Isra-Mart srl:Jatropha biofuel claims cropped by new report

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Isra-Mart srl news:

'Miracle' energy crop jatropha is "neither a profitable nor a sustainable investment", according to a new Friends of the Earth report that claims the plant is not helping to prevent climate change or helping the world's poorest people.

Jatropha has been widely touted as a second generation biofuel crop whose ability to produce high yields of oil from marginal agricultural land addresses the problem of traditional energy crops displacing food agriculture.

The possibility of converting the crop into aviation fuel attracted several major investors.

But today's report, entitled 'Jatropha: money doesn't grow on trees', says these claims are unrealistic and cites several cases where large-scale plantations are failing due to the crop's poor performance.

D1 Oils and Flora EcoPower, later re-named Acazis AG, were held up as examples of companies promising huge yields only to pull out of jatropha investments a few years later.

"European investment companies advertise that jatropha guarantees high returns on marginal soils - but their promises are far from realistic," said Paul de Clerck, economic justice programme coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe. "Many projects have already been abandoned because yields have stayed below expectations, even on good soils."

The report also takes issues with claims the crop could reduce carbon emissions, arguing that they do not take into account CO2 released due to land-use change.

Converting pastoral drylands to growing jatropha can release 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions the biofuels would deliver by displacing fossil fuels, the report says.

It also puts forward evidence the plant cannot flourish without significant amounts of water, a resource it competes for with subsistence farmers.

Mariann Bassey, food and agriculture coordinator for Friends of the Earth Nigeria, said land was lost for a "false solution to climate change".

"Food prices are rising again, yet land is being snatched away to grow fuel for cars," she said. "We want agriculture that allows us to grow food for people."