Jatropha is a shrub that is easy to grow and has become a source of plant oil for producing biodiesel in India. Many Indian farmers are planting jatropha as a supplement to their other farming income. A Wallstreet Journal article reports on the use of the plant.
The plant needs little water or fertilizer and can grow in a range of environments. Its golf ball-sized fruits yield a yellowish liquid that can be made into biodiesel. Jatropha is not edible. India is hoping to make use of its millions of acres of land where other plants will not grow as a result of depleted water tables.
Some companies are investing in jatropha as well. In June, BP Plc said it would put $90 million into a biofuels startup that will develop jatropha in India. In Australia, Mission Biofuels Ltd. has planted jatropha on 66,000 acres.
According to some estimates, the per-barrel cost of producing jatropha is about $43 -- half that of corn. Each acre of jatropha will produce about one ton of oil, and yield a profit of about $250 per acre.
Portuguese traders initially brought jatropha to India from South America, and it was long used as a hedge and to produce soap or lamp oil. In recent years, the Indian government has pushed the plant, growing it along railways and mandating that state-run oil companies buy biodiesel made from jatropha.
However, jatropha's yield can be unpredictable, and some farmers have already posted losses on the crop. The plant's ecological impacts have not been studied fully.
For now many farmers and companies are studying the potential for jatropha to provide a profitable crop to use to produce biodiesel.
