Reporter: The rise of biofuels and land grabbing
公開日: 2012/10/30
After the 2007 food crisis and the dramatic increase in agricultural raw material prices. a race began to acquire land in poorer countries, a new phenomenon called land grabbing. EuroparlTV went to assess its impact in Mozambique, which is rich in fertile land but unable to satisfy its people's demand for food. Luis Muchanga, the director of UNAC, the National Peasants' Union of Mozambique, coordinates research into land grabbing, a growing phenomenon, despite the fact that the law, theoretically, should be able to protect small landowners from large foreign companies. There is systematic violation of land law in Mozambique. This systematic violation translates as land grabbing. Since 2007, pressure has increased. Coincidently, the pressure increases at the exact moment when biofuel production in Mozambique intensifies. When the pressure to find or introduce biofuels in Mozambique began, so did the pressure to find land and so did conflicts. A happy coexistence between cultivating crops on fertile land and developing biofuels on barren or marginal land seems like a mirage to Luis Muchanga. In reality, biofuels are produced on fertile land, which could be used to produce food. Producing food and not biofuels is this country's priority, at least in the state it finds itself today. We travel from Maputo to Chimoio, capital of Manica province in the west. Sun Biofuels, a British-based company, is located here. It specialises in growing jatropha, a plant that produces oily berries which are ideal for biodiesel production. Sun Biofuels, established here for four years, occupies hundreds of hectares of former tobacco-producing land and provides work for 536 people. For financial director Shawne Botha, the farmers haven't lost their land. The process involves communication with the local populace before you even get the land. There's a procedure which is followed in order to get land. We have followed it. Everything appears legal at this plantation, which aims to modernise Mozambique's underdeveloped agricultural sector. They learn from the agricultural processes around them, carried out by commercial companies. They're learning what seeds to use, how to fertilise, all these things. We run a big local community farm scheme. No official comment from the land registry office in Chimoio, while for David Monasse, member of a farmers' cooperative for 20 years, land is a precious asset that the people risk losing. The land has been taken and has been devastated. There are many problems, it's not just jatropha. On one hand the right to grow crops to live and create a local market, on the other the investment of large sums of money into biofuel production, bringing work and modernising agriculture. All this in a country dependent on foreign aid and keen to attract major investment. The debate over land grabbing in Mozambique is complex, but is similar to many other African situations where the European aim to tackle global warming plays a central role. The World Bank documents some 450 projects for which we have data concerning the commodity produced on these projects, and in 21% of these the purpose of the investor is to produce energy, to produce energy crops and to develop agrofuel plantations. The problem with this is that in most cases these projects do not benefit the local population. They actually are controlled by a small number of large transnational corporations and they serve to use the resources from the global south to feed the thirst for renewable energies in the north. I think it is a very worrying phenomenon. It will worsen the pressures on land. The EU, faced with a 10% target for biofuels by 2020, plays a crucial role in the land grabbing situation, both in Mozambique and in many other developing countries.
EuroparlTV video ID: 3e13c697-a47b-4528-a39a-a01500a316df
EuroparlTV video ID: 3e13c697-a47b-4528-a39a-a01500a316df
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'JATROPHA IS NOT VIABLE'
公開日: 2012/11/27
The biodiesel producing tree, Jatropha curcas, which was introduced in Kenya 3 years ago, cannot for a certainty be said to be economically viable, it has emerged at a conference on Bioenergy, held in Nairobi. Participants heard that yields are in general lower than predictions. Good yield data are difficult to obtain. However, greater yields are realized when fruits are regularly harvested and rain is favorable. Other presenters at the conference maintain that Jatropha is a tree for future fuel production, if properly managed. The conference is a culmination of gathering results since 2009 when the crop was introduced in Kenya. The Director of the Centre for Training and Integrated Research in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (CETRAD), Boniface Kiteme, said that this is now the final stage of the results. Many farmers especially in dry-land areas got excited with the introduction of the plant; because they knew they would start harvesting 'fuel from trees'. Opposition on Jathropa has also drawn security concerns.
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Jatropha Investment in Ghana and Rural Land Alienation
公開日: 2012/07/01
This is an output of a an international, trans-disciplinary study on the bio-fuel feedstock, Jatropha curcas, initiated by teams from Ghana and Ethiopia. Globally, interest in liquid bio-fuels has been increasing: The growing interest in bio-fuel stems from several factors, including: climate change and the need to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels; rapid increases in fossil fuel prices; and the unpredictable supplies in the Middle East and other production centres. To meet global demand, Africa has become an important target producer of the feedstock for bio-fuel production. In particular, land has been acquired for production of Jatropha curcas as a feedstock in Ghana and Ethiopia. However, the effects of Jatropha curcas cultivation and production on the lives and livelihoods of local and rural farmers in Africa have generally not been considered and are not well understood. Yet, a progressive influx of both multinational and local investors is acquiring land across Africa to establish plantations for bio-fuel production. In Ghana and Ethiopia in particular, this has resulted in several important and overlapping conflicts and land use changes. As there are no evidence based studies on the situation, the research aims at providing this, develop capacity and influence policy in the sector to positively impact livelihoods particularly in the rural areas
Jatropha Farming Fox Report
アップロード日: 2010/05/26
Take a look at the future of oil production! This plant is called Jatropha Oil and it's seeds are crushed and turned into green oil biofuel. Investment in Jatropha has already started as it grows well in very dry conditions even in arid climates.
For further information about Jatropha or investments in Jatropha and Bio Fuel Investments please the Sceptre Group website at http://sceptreinternational.com
Source: Fox
For further information about Jatropha or investments in Jatropha and Bio Fuel Investments please the Sceptre Group website at http://sceptreinternational.com
Source: Fox
From Seed to Oil - Processing of Jatropha Curcas
アップロード日: 2009/10/19
Simple processing of old Jatropha Curcas seeds by Phil Dirkse, Oliver Haas and Meg Rich. This project was done as part of the Olin College Renewable Energy class (http://www.olin.edu).
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/africa/100401/jatropha-new-biofuel-hope-mozambique
Jatropha: Mozambique's new biofuel hope
CHIMOIO, Mozambique — The lines of small bushy plants stretch out across the rolling hills of central Mozambique, dew-covered and shining in the morning sunlight. Peter Whitehead walks down the rows smiling like only a father can at the somewhat scrubby, greasy little jatropha shrubs.
Whitehead, a forester from Knysna, South Africa, is starting up a farm of jatropha trees as a source of biofuel oil.
Jatropha's origins are murky, with some experts suggesting it is a Central American or African crop, but Whitehead believes it comes from the Indian subcontinent and has been grown there for centuries. The bush becomes a tree about the size of a large cherry tree and, although its fruits are inedible, they produce very fine oil. The oil can be used to power diesel cars, trucks, ships and even airplanes.
Sun Biofuels, a British company, has been planting thousands of acres of jatropha at a former tobacco farm here and in other sites in Africa. The company hopes the jatropha oil will help it cash in on the high price of fuel as well as offer an alternative fuel for companies that want to clean up their emissions and their image by investing in green energy.
A few years ago, biofuels were part of the worldwide craze for green energy, but after the food price shocks of 2008, which saw global food commodity prices double or triple in much of the developing world, the idea of planting fuel has lost some of its shine. Plowing up thousands of acres of maize, and planting an inedible crop like jatropha in a poor country like Mozambique, where many people are hungry, is problematic to many people. But like much of the climate change debate, the issues around jatropha are not clear cut.
Mozambique has massive unemployment and it's one of the world's 10 least developed countries. The local and national government ministers in Mozambique all came to the launch of the farm, and said they hope this sort of project will be a success and lure more investors to their country with other new ideas. Mozambique only cultivates 20 percent of its arable land, one of the lowest cultivation rates in Africa. Sun Biofuels argues there should be room for all sorts of farming, particularly ones that bring education and employment.
At their Mozambican operation, Sun Biofuels took over an old tobacco farm and became the main employer in the area. Shouting above the noise of the big Toyota bouncing between row after row of green little bushes, Whitehad explained that the project is an experiment in the making.
"No one has ever done this in Africa, and there are only a few farms in the world. We are working with new seed, a whole new crop that has never been tamed." He explained that the project supports a school, a police station and trains workers in different aspects of the operation of the farm.
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http://www.nbf-web.com/japanese/jatropha.html
http://www.nbf-web.com/japanese/jatropha.html
砂漠の緑化とバイオマス燃料化を可能にするJatrophaの試験栽培をフィリピンで行っています。
Jatrophaは、アフリカをはじめ世界30カ国以上で栽培されています。
主な目的は、砂防の為の垣根や緑化事業です。果実の中の種を絞り、油を取り出しランプ用の油、ディーゼルエンジン用燃料、石鹸などに使用します。また、絞りかすはシーズケーキと呼ばれ有機肥料として利用されています。
世界でも先進的にJatrophaに取り組んでいる国はインドです。
インドでは、インド鉄道の2500kmの軌道両側にJatrophaを植樹したり、またダイムラー・クライスラー社の支援によるプロジェクトなどを積極的に行っています。
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果実は長楕円形で長さ3～4.5cm。種子には有毒の成分があり、下剤や吐剤に使用される。種子油は石鹸、機械油の原料となる。
Jatropha
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http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8A%E3%83%B3%E3%83%A8%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A2%E3%83%96%E3%83%A9%E3%82%AE%E3%83%AA
ナンヨウアブラギリ
以下抜粋：
ナンヨウアブラギリ（南洋油桐、学名：Jatropha curcas）は、トウダイグサ科の中南米原産の落葉低木。別名はタイワンアブラギリ、または学名からジャトロファ、ヤトロファなど。原産地は中南米であるが、16世紀以降、スペイン商人などの手により世界中に伝播した[4]。
樹高3-8 m程度。やせた土地でも生長が早く、旱魃や病気に強い。樹齢は最大50年程度[4]。
トウゴマよりもひとまわり小さな、重量600 mg前後の黒褐色の種子をつける。仁の約60%は脂質で、他にホルボールのエステル類やレクチン、トリプシン阻害剤などの有毒成分を含む[5]。
種子は毒性が強いが、油分に極めて富むことから、古くから利用が行われている[4]。現在では、石けんやロウソクのほか、下剤や解熱剤などの医薬品にも利用されている。日本では鉢植えの観葉植物としても、流通している。
毒性を利用して、農地などでは生きた防護柵として植えられている。また、高い殺貝作用を持つことから、種子抽出物を住血吸虫の中間宿主となるカタツムリの駆除へ利用することが試みられている[6][7]。
2010年12月、かずさDNA研究所はゲノム解読に成功したと発表[8]。
バイオディーゼルの原料
もともと播種や挿し木で増殖が可能であることから、古くから植物性の燃料資源として着目されており。かつては日本軍もこれに着目し、インドネシアにおいて栽培計画も存在した。ナンヨウアブラギリの実から精製した油は、ジャトロファ燃料ともよばれ、1990年代以降は地球温暖化対策の切り札として、植物性バイオディーゼル燃料の材料としても脚光を浴びている。特にバイオマスエタノールなど、自動車用バイオ燃料の生産が本格化した21世紀以降、毒性があるため食用とはならず、食料の供給を圧迫しないというメリットが喧伝されている。
日本でジャトロファ事業を行っている日本植物燃料[9]によれば、干ばつに強く、通常食用植物の栽培が行われない酸性土壌でも育ち、1haあたり毎年5トンの種子の収穫が見込め、上質油部分のみで35%が期待でき、アブラヤシほどではないが、ナタネや大豆、ヒマワリなど他の油脂植物により採油効率が高いとされている。加えて搾りかすも発電燃料として期待できる。
ジャトロファ（ナンヨウアブラギリ）をフィリピンや日本の沖縄県宮古島で栽培開発をしているバイオマス・ジャパン[10]によると、ジャトロファの油脂性質は燃料向きで、絞っただけのクルードオイルでA重油相当、精製エステル交換反応すればバイオディーゼル燃料として使えるという。
栽培
25°N-30°Sの熱帯・亜熱帯で成育し、気温は20-40℃、降雨量は年750 - 3000 mm程度が適する。長い乾季には落葉して耐えることができるが、水はけの悪い土壌や霜が降りる高山は不適である。酸・アルカリ質の土地にも適応するが、収量は落ちる。高い収量を得るには適切な条件が必要であり、収量が上がらないために栽培が中止された場所も多い[11][12]。
1ha当たり1000 - 2000株を植栽でき、3-4年目から収穫できる。種の収量は1ha当たり800-1500 kg。痩せた土地でも育つが、収量を増やすには施肥が不可欠である。収穫には1haあたり60人日が必要であり、これはワタ（35人日）より多い。栽培されている農地は、世界全体で90万haに達する（2008年）[11]。
批判
しかし現在計画されている大量栽培地や予定地の多くはキャッサバなどの既存の畑作地からの転用であったり、他の農作物と切り替えがされると予想されている。そのために、食料不足を懸念する声も上がっている。インド人農学者デヴィンダー・シャルマによれば、インドでは1100万ヘクタールの土地がバイオディーゼルの生産に使われる植物「ジャトロファ（ナンヨウアブラギリ）」用に割り当てられているという。これはスイスの表面積の3倍の広さに当たる。「貧しい人たちがおなかを空かせて寝床に着き、ますます多くの農民が失業に追い込まれている一方で、インドはアグロ燃料作物の主にジャトロファの大規模プランテーションを奨励する一連の影響をまともに受けている」との意見もある[13]。
最終更新 2013年3月7日 (木)
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http://www.jatrophaworld.org/
http://www.jatrophabiodiesel.org/
Jatropha Curcas ‘The Bio-fuel Crop’
http://www.kaluyala.com/community/a-home-grown-economy/jatropha-curcas-the-bio-fuel-crop/
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