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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "wonder" biofuel. A simple shrubby tree belonging to Central America, it was hugely promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that could grow on abject lands across Latin America, Africa and Asia.

A jatropha rush occurred, with more than 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) planted by 2008. But the bubble burst. Low yields caused plantation failures nearly everywhere. The consequences of the jatropha crash was polluted by allegations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon decrease claims.

Today, some researchers continue pursuing the incredibly elusive pledge of high-yielding jatropha. A comeback, they state, depends on cracking the yield issue and resolving the harmful land-use concerns linked with its original failure.

The sole remaining big jatropha plantation remains in Ghana. The plantation owner claims high-yield domesticated ranges have been achieved and a brand-new boom is at hand. But even if this resurgence fails, the world's experience of jatropha holds essential lessons for any appealing up-and-coming biofuel.


At the beginning of the 21st century, Jatropha curcas, a simple shrub-like tree native to Central America, was planted throughout the world. The rush to jatropha curcas was driven by its promise as a sustainable source of biofuel that might be grown on broken down, unfertile lands so as not to displace food crops. But inflated claims of high yields failed.

Now, after years of research and development, the sole staying big plantation focused on growing jatropha remains in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, claims the jatropha resurgence is on.

"All those companies that stopped working, adopted a plug-and-play design of scouting for the wild varieties of jatropha. But to commercialize it, you need to domesticate it. This is a part of the process that was missed [throughout the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian told Mongabay in an interview.

Having learned from the mistakes of jatropha's previous failures, he states the oily plant might yet play a key function as a liquid biofuel feedstock, decreasing transportation carbon emissions at the global level. A new boom could bring fringe benefits, with jatropha also a possible source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.

But some researchers are skeptical, keeping in mind that jatropha curcas has already gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They warn that if the plant is to reach complete potential, then it is important to find out from previous mistakes. During the first boom, jatropha plantations were hindered not just by poor yields, however by land grabbing, deforestation, and social issues in countries where it was planted, consisting of Ghana, where jOil operates.

Experts likewise recommend that jatropha curcas's tale offers lessons for researchers and business owners checking out appealing brand-new sources for liquid biofuels - which exist aplenty.

Miracle shrub, major bust

Jatropha's early 21st-century appeal came from its guarantee as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from grasses, trees and other plants not stemmed from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its multiple supposed virtues was a capability to grow on degraded or "marginal" lands; therefore, it was claimed it would never ever take on food crops, so the theory went.

At that time, jatropha ticked all packages, says Alexandros Gasparatos, now at the University of Tokyo's Institute for Future Initiatives. "We had a crop that appeared amazing; that can grow without excessive fertilizer, a lot of pesticides, or excessive demand for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not take on food because it is poisonous."

Governments, worldwide firms, investors and companies bought into the buzz, releasing initiatives to plant, or promise to plant, millions of hectares of jatropha. By 2008, plantations covered some 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) in Latin America, Africa and Asia, according to a market study prepared for WWF.

It didn't take wish for the mirage of the incredible biofuel tree to fade.

In 2009, a Pals of the Earth report from Eswatini (still understood at the time as Swaziland) alerted that jatropha's high demands for land would indeed bring it into direct conflict with food crops. By 2011, an international evaluation kept in mind that "growing outmatched both scientific understanding of the crop's potential along with an understanding of how the crop fits into existing rural economies and the degree to which it can flourish on marginal lands."

Projections estimated 4.7 million hectares (11.7 million acres) would be planted by 2010, and 12.8 million hectares (31.6 million acres) by 2015. However, just 1.19 million hectares (2.94 million acres) were growing by 2011. Projects and plantations started to stop working as anticipated yields declined to materialize. Jatropha could grow on degraded lands and endure drought conditions, as claimed, but yields remained bad.

"In my opinion, this mix of speculative investment, export-oriented potential, and potential to grow under relatively poorer conditions, developed a huge problem," leading to "undervalued yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos says.

As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were also plagued by environmental, social and economic problems, state experts. Accusations of land grabs, the conversion of food crop lands, and cleaning of natural locations were reported.

Studies discovered that land-use change for jatropha in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Tanzania led to a loss of biodiversity. A study from Mexico found the "carbon payback" of jatropha plantations due to involved forest loss ranged between two and 14 years, and "in some scenarios, the carbon financial obligation might never be recuperated." In India, production showed carbon benefits, however the usage of fertilizers resulted in boosts of soil and water "acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication."

"If you take a look at most of the plantations in Ghana, they declare that the jatropha produced was positioned on marginal land, however the concept of limited land is really evasive," discusses Abubakari Ahmed, a lecturer at the University for Development Studies, Ghana. He studied the implications of jatropha plantations in the country over numerous years, and found that a lax meaning of "limited" meant that assumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha plantations had been lying untouched and unused was frequently illusory.

"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The truth that ... presently nobody is utilizing [land] for farming does not indicate that nobody is using it [for other functions] There are a lot of nature-based incomes on those landscapes that you may not always see from satellite images."

Learning from jatropha

There are key lessons to be gained from the experience with jatropha, say analysts, which ought to be heeded when thinking about other advantageous second-generation biofuels.

"There was a boom [in financial investment], but regrettably not of research study, and action was taken based upon supposed benefits of jatropha," says Bart Muys, a teacher in the Division of Forest, Nature and Landscape at the University of Leuven, Belgium. In 2014, as the jatropha buzz was unwinding, Muys and coworkers published a paper mentioning crucial lessons.

Fundamentally, he discusses, there was a lack of knowledge about the plant itself and its needs. This important requirement for in advance research could be used to other potential biofuel crops, he states. Last year, for instance, his group launched a paper evaluating the yields of pongamia (Millettia pinnata), a "fast-growing, leguminous and multipurpose tree species" with biofuel guarantee.

Like jatropha, pongamia can be grown on degraded and limited land. But Muys's research study revealed yields to be highly variable, contrary to other reports. The group concluded that "pongamia still can not be thought about a considerable and steady source of biofuel feedstock due to persisting knowledge gaps." Use of such cautionary data could avoid wasteful monetary speculation and careless land conversion for new biofuels.

"There are other extremely appealing trees or plants that could work as a fuel or a biomass producer," Muys states. "We wished to prevent [them going] in the same direction of early buzz and stop working, like jatropha."

Gasparatos highlights essential requirements that must be satisfied before continuing with new biofuel plantations: high yields should be opened, inputs to reach those yields comprehended, and an all set market needs to be offered.

"Basically, the crop needs to be domesticated, or [scientific understanding] at a level that we know how it is grown," Gasparatos states. Jatropha "was practically undomesticated when it was promoted, which was so weird."

How biofuel lands are gotten is also crucial, says Ahmed. Based on experiences in Ghana where communally utilized lands were bought for production, authorities should guarantee that "guidelines are put in location to check how massive land acquisitions will be done and documented in order to reduce some of the problems we observed."

A jatropha return?

Despite all these obstacles, some scientists still think that under the right conditions, jatropha might be a valuable biofuel solution - particularly for the difficult-to-decarbonize transport sector "accountable for around one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."

"I believe jatropha curcas has some potential, but it requires to be the best product, grown in the ideal location, and so on," Muys said.

Mohammad Alherbawi, a postdoctoral research study fellow at Qatar's Hamad Bin Khalifa University, continues holding out hope for jatropha. He sees it as a manner in which Qatar may decrease airline company carbon emissions. According to his estimates, its usage as a jet fuel might lead to about a 40% reduction of "cradle to tomb" emissions.

Alherbawi's team is performing ongoing field research studies to improve jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an added advantage, he envisages a jatropha green belt covering 20,000 hectares (nearly 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The execution of the green belt can actually enhance the soil and farming lands, and secure them against any additional deterioration triggered by dust storms," he says.

But the Qatar job's success still depends upon numerous aspects, not least the ability to obtain quality yields from the tree. Another essential action, Alherbawi describes, is scaling up production innovation that utilizes the whole of the jatropha fruit to increase processing efficiency.

Back in Ghana, jOil is currently managing more than 1,300 hectares (1,830 acres) of jatropha, and growing a pilot plot on 300 hectares (740 acres) dealing with more than 400 farmers. Subramanian describes that years of research and development have actually resulted in varieties of jatropha that can now attain the high yields that were lacking more than a decade ago.

"We were able to speed up the yield cycle, improve the yield variety and enhance the fruit-bearing capability of the tree," Subramanian states. In essence, he specifies, the tree is now domesticated. "Our first task is to expand our jatropha plantation to 20,000 hectares."

Biofuels aren't the only application JOil is taking a look at. The fruit and its by-products could be a source of fertilizer, bio-candle wax, a charcoal alternative (crucial in Africa where much wood is still burned for cooking), and even bioplastics.

But it is the transportation sector that still beckons as the perfect biofuels application, according to Subramanian. "The biofuels story has actually as soon as again resumed with the energy shift drive for oil business and bio-refiners - [driven by] the look for alternative fuels that would be emission friendly."

A total jatropha life-cycle evaluation has yet to be finished, however he believes that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions related to the oily plant will be "competitive ... These 2 aspects - that it is technically suitable, and the carbon sequestration - makes it an extremely strong candidate for adoption for ... sustainable aviation," he says. "We think any such growth will occur, [by clarifying] the definition of degraded land, [permitting] no competitors with food crops, nor in any method endangering food security of any country."

Where next for jatropha?

Whether jatropha can genuinely be carbon neutral, environment-friendly and socially accountable depends on complex factors, consisting of where and how it's grown - whether, for instance, its production model is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, state professionals. Then there's the nagging problem of achieving high yields.

Earlier this year, the Bolivian federal government revealed its intention to pursue jatropha plantations in the Gran Chaco biome, part of a nationwide biofuels press that has actually stirred debate over potential effects. The Gran Chaco's dry forest biome is currently in deep problem, having actually been heavily deforested by aggressive agribusiness practices.

Many past plantations in Ghana, alerts Ahmed, converted dry savanna woodland, which ended up being bothersome for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was often unfavorable in many of the jatropha websites, since the carbon sequestration of jatropha can not be compared to that of a shea tree," he explains.

Other scientists chronicle the "potential of Jatropha curcas as an ecologically benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other scientists stay skeptical of the eco-friendly practicality of second-generation biofuels. "If Mexico promotes biofuels, such as the exploitation of jatropha, the rebound is that it potentially ends up being so successful, that we will have a lot of associated land-use modification," states Daniel Itzamna Avila-Ortega, co-founder of the Mexican Center of Industrial Ecology and a Ph.D. trainee with the Stockholm Resilience Centre; he has actually carried out research on the possibilities of jatropha adding to a circular economy in Mexico.

Avila-Ortega mentions past land-use problems associated with expansion of numerous crops, consisting of oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our law enforcement is so weak that it can not deal with the economic sector doing whatever they desire, in regards to producing environmental problems."

Researchers in Mexico are currently exploring jatropha-based livestock feed as a low-priced and sustainable replacement for grain. Such usages may be well matched to regional contexts, Avila-Ortega agrees, though he stays worried about possible environmental expenses.

He suggests limiting jatropha growth in Mexico to make it a "crop that conquers land," growing it only in genuinely bad soils in need of restoration. "Jatropha could be among those plants that can grow in extremely sterilized wastelands," he explains. "That's the only way I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest recovery technique for wastelands. Otherwise, the involved problems are higher than the prospective benefits."

Jatropha's global future remains unsure. And its prospective as a tool in the fight versus climate modification can only be unlocked, state numerous professionals, by preventing the list of difficulties associated with its first boom.

Will jatropha jobs that sputtered to a stop in the early 2000s be fired back up again? Subramanian thinks its function as a sustainable biofuel is "impending" and that the resurgence is on. "We have strong interest from the energy market now," he says, "to team up with us to establish and expand the supply chain of jatropha."

Banner image: Jatropha curcas trees in Hawai'i. Image by Forest and Kim Starr by means of Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

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