Biwako Bio-Laboratory to invest $19.4 million in Kenyan jatropha biodiesel

February 29, 2008

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 Green Africa Foundation is coordinating the plantation effort in Biwako’s behalf. More than 500,000 seedlings have been planted in the Eastern Rift Valley, Coast and Nyanza provinces over the past year under Green Africa’s auspices. The provinces suffer from severe forest degradation and jatropha is being used to stabilize forest as well as produce farm income.

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.
The Green PowerÂ jatropha biodiesel plant in Nairobi is attracting much attention from local farmers, as jatropha continues to be a hot topic across the continent.

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.