First Myanmar jatropha harvest ready after 2006 planting campaign

In Myanmar, the first national jatropha crops are ready for harvest, with up to 7 million acres planted by small farmers, after a national directive in 2006 that all farmers with more than 1 acre of land had to plant a minimum of 200 jatropha seeds to establish a hedge around their landholdings. The ruling junta developed the plan in light of soaring oil import costs, and the biggest anti-junta protests since the 1980s which erupted last year over cuts in diesel subsidies.

Jatropha developments continue to abound. Recent announcements include:

• In California, Allegro Biodiesel has commenced processing of jatropha oil into biodiesel on a test basis.

• China’s largest state oil company, Sinopec, said it will invest $5 billion in jatropha and palm plantations in Indonesia.

• In the United Arab Emirates, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi announced an $15 billion investment project in renewables, managed by Masdar. Masdar’s major initiative in bio-fuels is focused on jatropha and other arid climate crops.

• D1 Oils is planting 50,000 hectares of jatropha, in a joint venture with BP, in Africa, India and Southeast Asia. D1’s CEO said that the company can produce jatropha biodiesel profitably as long as the price of oil exceeds $65 per barrel, and will have developed more than 32 Mgy in jatropha capacity by 2012.

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