Jatropha Curcas

Jatropha, known as Sabu-dum in Thai, is a hardy plant consisting of more than 170 succulent plants, trees and shrubs grown around the world, including the variety Jatropha Curcas.  The Jatropha Curcas is an ideal choice as a biofuel crop for a number of reasons including: fast growth rates, natural resistance to pests and disease, and yields averaging 30 percent – 35 percent oil content per seed.

Further, because Jatropha is can be grown in wastelands, poor soils, sandy soils, and even in rock crevices, the crop can increase land productivity and farmer income without negatively affecting food production and food prices.  For these reasons and more, Goldman Sachs hailed the Jatropha plant as one of the “best candidates for future biodiesel production.”

Due to the toxic properties of its seeds, Jatropha Curcas is not a food and can exclusively be used for the production of inedible products, including biodiesel, other biofuels and high quality fertilizer. Biodiesel made from Jatropha is known as Jatropha Methyl-Ester, and does not risk price fluctuations based on market conditions of edible foods because Jatropha by-products cannot be base ingredients in foods. This also eliminates Jatropha Curcas from the “food-for-the-poor-or-fuel-for-the-rich debate” and its use in biofuel production does not affect the cost of living of the local population unlike palm oil, for example.

The cultivation of Jatropha can be promoted as a means of economic empowerment, social upliftment and poverty alleviation within the rural communities especially in the tropical and sub-tropical countries with under-developed and developing economies.

The plant is easily grown even in marginal soils (requires only 300mm of annual rainfall) and can improve soil degradation, desertification and deforestation and at the same time increase rural incomes through large scale commercial plantations, smallholdings or contract farming in the upstream sub-sectors. On the downstream end, Jatropha Curcas provides for agro-based industries such as soap manufacturing; organic fertilizer production from seed-cake; and the mainstay in the production of biodiesel to replace petroleum diesel.