Benefits
The Environment
The primary uses of Jatropha Curcas Oil is either to be used as a direct fuel in ethanol-based engines or as a feedstock to be further processed into biofuel, for use in environmentally-friendly engines. In each case Jatropha Curcas Oil is being used as a replacement for fossil-based fuels. Environmental benefits of replacing petroleum based fuels with Jatropha-based fuels include:
1. Ethanol is an oxygenate that reduces ground-level ozone.
2. Adding biodiesel to fossil fuels reduces the amount of polluting particulates, including carbon monoxides and sulfur dioxides, released into the atmosphere.
3. Ethanol and Biodiesel are biodegradable, breaking down more than four times faster than fossil fuels
in the environment.
4. Carbon released by using Curcas-based fuel is offset by the carbon sequestered in the planting and growing of the Jatropha plants.
5. Finally, Jatropha Curcas can be grown on marginal lands with low amounts vegetation, reducing the need to
plow over pristine rainforest lands.
The Farmer
Farms are also able to plant Jatropha as a hedge crop, enabling them to continue to grow their primary cash food crops while generating an additional source of income from otherwise non-producing lands.
1. Use of contract farming means that farmers simultaneously (a) receive the guaranteed assurance of a stable
and profitable price now and in the future and (b) do not have to go into debt to pay the large up-front costs of
plants and fertilization.
2. Farmers are able to generate high revenues from their less arable lands.
3. The Jatropha plant is resilient to disease and low rainfalls, creating a stable cash generating crop for farmers.
Food Security
The Jatropha plant is an extremely hardy and resilient crop, able to grow in low-rainfall environments and on average-to-marginal lands. Because the Jatropha plant can be grown in these less-than-ideal lands, the cultivation of Jatropha is able to compliment, and not threaten the amount of arable lands available for food production.
Our company, Curcas Oil N.V. and all affiliated companies, directly ensures the security of the food chain by indexing the price that our contracted farmers will receive for their harvested seeds to a price set at less than the local selling price of key local food crops, such as rice or corn. This creates a clear disincentive for farmers to plow over more profitable food crops and ensures that our business is not based on competition with food.
Energy Security
It is an accepted fact that the world’s supply of fossil fuels is limited and being rapidly depleted by increasing development and population growth. Further, the reserves that do exist are often of a lower quality and more difficult to extract than in previous generations. Finally, the extended supply chains between producers and consumers further increases demand pressures on our exhaustible energy supplies.
Jatropha Curcas Oil is an ideal alternative to this unsustainable situation because the sun will always shine and the lands used can be managed in a sustainable manner. Growth in biofuels, such as Jatropha oil, helps countries diversify their supplies of energy while also reducing the total overall cost of these energy supplies. Better energy security means better world security.