Cropping
Jatropha:
Gold plant catalysing Nigeria’ s biofuel resolution
Farming in Nigeria has become a serious business, but there are some cash crops that are still being neglected, though they can generate huge foreign exchange for both government and farmers. One of such cash crops is Jatropha, which farmers call gold plant because of its value-chain which has potential to generating about N1.5 trillion from both local and international market and solves the problem of poverty in Nigeria.
Jatropha may sound new to some people but the crop has been around for years although its huge potential is yet to be discovered and have remained untapped in the country. One beautiful thing about the plant is that it could reduce importation of kerosene and diesel which could save foreign exchange and payment of petroleum subsidy, as the Jatropha diesel is now a healthy source of aviation fuel in the world. �e plant can survive for eight months without water and has a life lifespan of 50 years.
Farmers who are committed to the cultivation of Jatropha plant are abandoning their farms for other crops because they are not getting support a�er investing heavily in the plantation, following government abandonment of initiative so far there has been no support or incentives to those farmers. Farmers said the movement for the production of biofuel as an alternative source of power was initiated during the Goodluck Jonathan administration but was abandoned along the line. However, the gold plant has potential to create wealth through the establishment of small scale industries. For instance, from the seed alone one can get biodiesel, bio-kerosene, bio-petrol, glycerol and even organic fertiliser from the cake. �e cake could also be used to generate electricity, animal feeds, and poultry feeds. It can be used to produce insecticide and also produce candle from the latex.
Farmers who want to venture into farming of Jatropha have no reason to fear because the plant can survive anywhere and does not require any particular soil type for growth. In Nigeria, farmers intercrop Jatropha with other plants like maize and cassava in between the Jatropha trees, so farmers do not have to look for another land to plant. �e market for bio-diesel and organic fertiliser is growing but there are not enough raw materials to feed the growth, which creates emerging market for Nigeria, as there are currently commercial plantations of Jatropha plants in Ghana, Mali, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and South Africa. Jatropha plant is widely found in Nigeria and the local names are botuje pupa, lapalapa pupa, okpokporu, sherigun, among others.
Jatropha plant has been identi ed as a very important source of bio-fuels a�er palm oil. It had been used as bio-diesel and organic fertiliser in several European, Asian and African countries. �at explains why Stakeholders in Jatropha oil and bio-diesel production in Nigeria have called on the Federal Government to institute a N500 billion fund for the development of all the value chains of the product. Speaking in Abuja the National President of Jatropha Growers, Processors and Exporters Association of Nigeria( JaGPEAN), retired Maj-Gen. J. A. Omosebi, said the N500 billion fund, which should be accessed at 5 per cent interest rate, could help the country in meeting its pledge to reduce the consumption of fossilbased diesel by blending 20 per cent of bio-diesel into every litre of fossil diesel.
Omosebi said the fund would help in the development of Jatropha in the country and assist in blending 10 per cent of ethanol into every litre of petrol consumed in the country by 2020, adding that Jatropha is a plant that can grow in any part of Nigeria, which can be used for bio-diesel production, bio-fuel, insecticides and medicines. He said since about 12 million litres of diesel are consumed daily in Nigeria, to blend 20 per cent biodiesel, the country would need 2.4 million litres of biodiesel daily and for 365 days, it would require 876 million litres.
Also speaking the Managing Director of Boluwa Golden Solutions, Mr. Boluwajoko Gbenga, said that Jatropha farming could be used to solve the unemployment problem in Nigeria because the biodiesel from its seeds as well as other by-products are now hot cakes in the international market.“ Presently, one big telecom company uses bio-fuel to run its base stations all over the country. In this business, there is no waste because both oil and chaff are marketable. Besides, there are people who plant and use the bio-fuel to run their generators in Oyo State. More so, we have foreigners waiting to buy the cake. Jatropha plant and seeds can last for up to 50 years and the seed is ready for harvest when the plant is less than a year,” added.
January- February 2017
FARMERS
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