Grow Jatropha: Jatropha Curacas Plantations In India - Funny Video

Promotional Video for Bulk Agro Jatropha Curacas Plantations in India

Well this is really funny! You have to go 2.05 minutes into the video before you even see any Jatropha plants! From the boardroom scenes you can see that the Bulk Agro Jatropha Plantation planogram shows a high percentage of small holder jatropha growers.

The nursery that is growing jatropha looks well organised and the jatropha appeats to be grown in rows in a very clinical way which projects Bulk Agro Pvt's corporate image as the promotional video continues you can see that they have some machinery for extracting the Jatropha seeds from the husks.

This looks like a well organised Jatropha Plantation from the promotional video however the jatropha plants shown are young and there is no intercropping on the plantation video.

Grow Jatropha: Indian Project To Grow Jatropha Curcas in Chhattisgarh

Here is an Indian project to grow Jatropha Curcas Lin to produce a biofuel crop most plantations who grow jatropha for biodiesel production use a monoculture. In this case if the Indian's were to grow Jatropha intercropped with Gensing they would have an additional income in addition to growing jatropha for biofuel.

The Jatropha growing on the Sandarkera plantation in India looks healthy with each jatropha plant easily having 2.5 square meters in which to grow. Both Genging and Watermelon could grow in between these jatropha rows to create food security and income as well as biodiesel on this jatropha plantation in India.

There is a funny bit where animals are walking where the jatropha is growing and it is captioned with "Jatropha Is No Longer Effective Hedge" Jatropha plants need to be planted about 30cm away from each other so that they become a hedge of course animals will walk through the plantation.

In Africa there is some debate as to whether jatropha plants should grow in 4 meter square patches to allow for elephant migration through the jatropha growing on the plantation without damage.

Grow Jatropha: Mechanical Press Extraction of Crude Jatropha Oil & Seedcake

This Video shows an amazing machine extracting the Crude Jatropha Oil from the Jatropha seed. The seedcake comes out in need pellets which can be burnt as fuel or used as fertilizer. If sterilised by heat to remove toxins the Jatropha seedcake can be fed to livestock and fish as food.

The Crude Jatropha Oil (CJO) can then be refined into Jatropha Methly Ester suitable for use as Biodiesel which is a process anyone can do at home. This is the most advanced form of machine I have seen for the extraction of crude jatropha oil from the seedcake produced by the Jatropha Plant.

Growing Jatropha for biofuel in Africa is still very much an emerging market. The level of Jatropha nut press is very, basic and the facilities and knowledge that the local people need to extract the crude jatropha oil from the seed cake and then refine the crude jatropha oil into Jatropha Methyl Ester suitable for sustainable use in 4x4's is not present currently in Africa.

To grow jatropha holistically the by products of growing jatropha for bio diesel, like the jatropha seedcake need to be seen as as important and useful to the local community that is producing the crop and the local community need the education to be able to get the most benefit from growing jatropha so the plant is used holistically.

If the community are growing Jatropha just for biodiesel they should be able to produce the biodiesel from the crude jatropha oil themselves and be able to prepare jatropha seed cake as briquettes to replace wood in fires or even be able to sterilise the jatropha seed cake so that it can be used to feed community fish or livestock projects

Grow Jatropha: Harvesting Jatropha Plantation Sustainability Vs Machinery

This Video Shows harvesting of Jatropha Curacus Lin on a Monoculture Bio Fuel Plantation using a Korvan Model 9000 machine. Growing and harvesting a Jatropha plantation like this on an industrial scale with machinery and it may be financialy more sensible to grow jatropha and harvest it more traditionaly. This will produce biofuel that is more sustainable as the carbon emmisions chain taken to produce the fuel will be shorter and therefore better for the environment.

This method of harvesting jatropha grown on a monoculture plantation is not as environmentally friendly as harvesting the jatropha by hand. Once the jatropha seed husks have turned black they fall to the ground where they can easily be picked up and brought to trailers at the end of the rows.

Harvesting Jatropha in this way creates labour for local people and the extra cash from growing jatropha with medicinal plants such as Aloe Vera are better economically for the plantation as the value of an Aloe Crop is worth twice as much as the Jatropha Crop in the first four to 5 years!

Grow Jatropha: Growing Jatropha Biodiesel Plantation in Lower Volta Ghana

Growing Jatropha as a Bio Fuel feedstock is a good idea in Africa - This Video shows Jatropha Growing as a Monoculture plantation in Lower Volta, Ghana.

Many people in Africa have tried to grow Jatropha for various biofuel projects which are less economically viable when compared to growing jatropha plants intercropped with medicinal plants such as gensing. The

Jatropha plants are being grown in rows so they can be easily harvested, from the hight and foliage the Jatropha plants look to be 12 to 18 months old. The sole aim of a monocultrue plantation is to grow jatropha as a feedstock for biofuels like bio diesel - Jatropha Methel Ester or Bio Aviation Fuel -Bio SPK, Synthetic Parafinic Kerosene.

A plantation has to grow a large amount of Jatropha in order to produce a sustainable biofuel production for every 3 kilos of Jatropha seed grown produce one litre of oil when crushed to produce the Crude Jatropha Oil. The main reason why this Jatropha is being grown on this plantation in Ghana.  

 

This book explains how to make your own bio diesel the process can be used with Crude Jatropha Oil from the Jatropha plants grown in the video or with waste vegetable oil from a restaurant.