New oil find may be Jatropha plant

http://www.hindu.com/2005/08/26/stories/2005082610500500.htm

Other States - Rajasthan

New oil find may be Jatropha plant

Special Correspondent

It grows like a weed in wasteland and is used by rural folks to protect their crops Tribals in Rajasthan, M. P. make use of the oil from Jatropha seeds for lighting lamps





JAIPUR: The new oil find in the desert may be the bio-diesel plant Jatropha, commonly known as "Rattanjot'' in this part of the country. Rajasthan, occupying one-tenth of the country's total land mass but boasting of only one per cent of its water resources, is considered ideal for growing Jatropha Curcus, also known by the names of Pongamia Pinnata, Honge and Karanja.

Jatropha, now spotted as an ideal source of TBO (tree borne oil seed), is already grown in the region. Farmers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh have been putting the oil from its seeds to local use before the Planning Commission, concerned with the country's growing expenses over imports of crude--52 million metric tonnes of high speed diesel by 2006-07, decided to set up a Bio-diesel Mission in 2002.

It grows like a weed in the wasteland and is used as a hedge by the rural folks to protect their crops. The tribals in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh make use of the oil from Jatropha seeds for lighting lamps. On a commercial scale, it can be planted on under-stocked forest lands, fallow lands and on farmers holdings as agro forestry along with agricultural crops.

Apart from the areas under the Japanese-assisted Aravalli Afforestation Programme in Banswara and Udaipur, Rattanjot is grown across 600 hectares in Rajasthan. The pilot projects, covering 300 hectares each, are run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Maharana Pratap Agriculture University, Udaipur. The plants consume less water and can also adjust to harsh weather conditions.

"In three years since the Planning Commission took the initiative on bio- diesel, a lot of things have happened. The latest has been the setting up of a bio- diesel credit bank by the PCRA on August 17,'' observed Leena Mehendale, Executive Director of the Petroleum Conservation and Research Association (PCRA), addressing a media workshop on bio-diesel at the Press Information Bureau here on Tuesday.

"The target now is to bring 2.2-2.6 million hectare area under the plant all over the country so that we can start blending 5 per cent bio-diesel extracted from Jatropha seeds with petroleum diesel from next year and take it up to 20 per cent by the year 2011-12,'' Ms. Mehendale said.

The use of bio- diesel results in substantial reduction of unburnt hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matters. It has no sulphur, no aromatics and has about 10 per cent built- in oxygen which helps it to burn fully, it is being pointed out. Though oil can be extracted from Jatropha seeds by trans-esterification (manually), there are now machineries, varying from 10 litres to 1000 litres a day in capacity, available in the market. "At present everything is on an ad hoc basis. The cultivation of Jatropha has not picked up momentum,'' conceded Ms. Mehendale who said the Petroleum Ministry had already recommended fixing a minimum support price for bio- diesel from the plant. The MSP proposed by the Ministry is Rs.23 per litre.

Once the announcement of MSP was made, at least 20 depots of the Indian Oil Corporation and other oil companies would be procuring the bio diesel. "We expect this to happen soon,'' Ms. Mehendale said.

"There is a need for subsidy and other incentives for the farmers. We have sent a note to the Finance Ministry suggesting Sales Tax exemption for the product for the next three years,'' she said.