jatropha-kenya-22-01-07

The wonder shrub By KITAVI MUTUA

AN EXPERIMENT IN MALI, Central Africa, might eventually become the panacea for fuel crisis and food shortages on the continent.
In 1987, the German Technical Assistance (GTZ) started a project in a renewable energy source programme, to farmers and the land that supports them.
The raw material for the project was jatropha curcas — a plant of Latin American origin and a member of the euphorbiaceae family, which is a close relative to the castor plant. 
For generations, farmers in West Africa have grown the plant as a hedge to protect their gardens and food crops from animals because it is not eaten by animals. It also helps to check soil erosion.
The plant has since been found to have the potential of producing oil.
It is now used to produce oil for cooking, lighting, running diesel engines for posho mills, water pumps and power saws in the Mali project.
Energy experts say that jatropha oil is an environmentally safe, cost-effective renewable source of non-conventional energy, and a promising substitute for diesel, kerosene and other fuels. 
The plant is already a commercial source of bio-diesel in countries like Canada, the US, Thailand, Brazil and India. 
It can also be used in the manufacture of soaps and cosmetics, while its waste products are ideal for the production of fertilisers and animal feeds.
Kenya too has just introduced the plant in various parts of the country, with some 500,000 seedlings having been transplanted eight months ago in Eastern, Rift Valley, Coast and Nyanza Provinces.
The government has licensed an environmental organisation — Green Africa Foundation — to provide technical support for the project. 
Jatropha carcus is a perennial, monoecious shrub growing to about six metres high when mature and is pale brown in colour. 
ITS LEAVES EXUDE SOME COPIOUS watery latex that is slippery soapy to the touch, but turns brittle and brownish when dry. 
Being monoecious means that the plant’s flowers are uni-sexual and are not pollinated, but occasionally hermaphroditic flowers occur. 
The tree thrives under a wide range of climatic and edaphic conditions, but is particularly hardy at medium altitude and humid zones. It adapts to arid climatic conditions by shedding its leaves during the dry season. 
Its productive life span is estimated to reach 50 years without replanting or tending. 
The more oil produced by the jatropha plants the higher the food production, because its oil cake is turned into organic fertiliser, with a mineral composition comparable to guano or bird manure.
The plant produces yellowish ellipsoid capsule like seeds, measuring 2.5 to 3 centimetres long. The capsules contain two black triangular convex seeds per cell.
According to the chairman and founder of Green Africa Foundation, Isaac Kalua, once a steady large-scale production is achieved, the farmer groups will start processing the fuel for commercial purposes. 
Mr Kalua said preliminary scientific tests show that one litre of clean purified fuel can be extracted from every two kilogrammes of jatropha seeds.
“The extracted oil burns without emitting smoke, thus being friendly to the environment,” he said, adding that there is a need to promote the crop among Kenyans to maximise its benefits, especially vulnerable groups. 
Green Africa Foundation, the first farmer-driven organisation to embark on production of this fuel, is working closely with experts from the Hiroshima University in Japan to ensure that the simple manual oil squeezing machines are readily available to help poor farmers crush the jatropha seeds. 
PROF K. NAKANE, HEAD OF the centre for eco-biotechnology at the University of Hiroshima, said the advantage of bio-fuel is that the emission of carbon dioxide does not increase the amount of the gas in the atmosphere. 
“The use of bio-diesel contributes greatly to the reduction and slowing of global warming,” said Prof Nakane. 
Mr Kalua said, “With the cost of energy escalating beyond the reach of many poor Kenyans, we are going to redouble our efforts to ensure that attractive, clean fuel can be manufactured right on peoples’ homesteads.”
Kenya’s Environment Minister Prof Kivutha Kibwana, while on a tour of the jatropha farms in Eastern Province districts of Kitui and Makueni, said jatropha growing will play a big role in checking the encroaching desert and also assist in reforestation initiatives. 
“Our rural energy deficiencies are going to be significantly alleviated through this initiative, besides other potential benefits of creating employment and income generating activities,” the minister said.

From The East African
http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Magazine/Magazine2201074.htm