In Kenya, the Green Power East Africa jatropha biodiesel plant in Nairobi is attracting much attention from local farmers, as jatropha continues to be a hot topic across the continents.
D1Oils and Sun Biofuels are offering seeds and technical assistance to farmers in several countries in return for production contracts. D1 has a $90 million joint venture with BP, and has 338,000 acres under jatropha production with plans to plant more than 80,000 acres in Swaziland, Zambia, Madagascar, Mali and Malawi. The company recently signed with Keygene to obtain exclusive rights to Keygene’s applied jatropha research.
Also, Brazilian and US organizations have invested $500 million in the development of jatropha in Mali.
Jatropha seeds yield up to 40 percent oil and waste matter is sold as fertilizer. However, with current yields of 1.7 tonnes of oil per acre, jatropha lags behind the 4 tonnes per acre realized from palm oil.
In Kenya, the Trees for Clean Energy project is teaching 950 farmers about jatropha cultivation. The project is taking place in Kibwezi, a semi-arid region near Tsavo National Park, and expansion is p...
In Kenya, a Kenya Bio-Diesel Association has been formed to to promote jatropha-based biodiesel production. The association was established as an outcome of the 2008 National Bio-energy Conference in ...
In Kenya, the Green Africa Foundation said that the EU decision to focus its biofuels target on sustainable biofuels will help, not hurt, the growth of the African biofuels industry. Kenyan producers ...
In Kenya, HG Consulting will invest spend $475 million in The Ngima Project at Homa Bay, which will produce 100,000 tons of sugar for the domestic market and 68 Mgy of sugar cane ethanol for export.
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Mali Biocarburant is intending to be the first jatropha biodiesel company to commence production in Africa. The company buys jatropha nuts from farmers who have planted 20,000 km of jatropha fences in...
In Kenya, Japan's Biwako Bio-Laboratory will invest $19.4 million in a jatropha biodiesel facility and jatropha plantations at an undisclosed location. Production capacity was not disclosed. The Gree...
