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What's in the news - October 2009
Further evidence of the waning interest in jatropha and the booming appetite for microbials has been highlighted by two recent in-depth news articles in the journal Nature.
Under the heading ‘Wonder weed plans fail to flourish’ (Nature vol. 461, p 328-9, 17th September 2009), reporter Katherine Sanderson recounts the increasing difficulties facing companies trying to turn jatropha (currently covering about three-quarters of a million hectares) into a commercial success. ‘Jatropha has gone very quiet’ according to analyst Harry Boyle. Less than 5% of biofuel investment projects in 2009 have involved jatropha. The reasons are the same as those reported in the June edition of 'What's in the news': yields are very poor and it doesn’t thrive on marginal land. Also, despite being touted as drought tolerant, recent evidence (now hotly disputed) suggests that jatropha is also a thirsty plant, in fact about the most water demanding biofuel plant currently grown. Added to this is New York Times article highlighting the disturbing report commissioned by the African Biodiversity Network, which concluded that 'Thousands of farmers in Tanzania could face eviction from their lands by multinational organizations promoting the cultivation of biofuels'. Scaremongering or are we seeing the start of a disturbing example of forced land use change, that is not respecting the rights or needs of local populations in the developing world? This remains to be seen.
Forum
Pest and diseases of Jatropha curcas non toxic Mexico (by ANDREA VALDES)
A graphic compendium of the pest that a PhD student found on jatropha plants at Veracruz, México. The help of entomologist will be very useful. Photos and text on: http://biofuelexperts.ning.com/p...
Started by JOSE INES BAZAN-MOTA in Jatropha 8 hours ago.
Pongamia trumped all other biofuels now thats worth a look
Tree may offer fuel solution: expert PETRINA BERRY November 17, 2009 AAP Cars could soon be running on a biofuel produced from a common legume tree. A team of experts at the University of Queensl...
Tagged: biofuel, beech, indian, pinnata, Pongamia
Started by Peter Harper in Biofuels News Nov 22.
Giant Reed Arundo Donax
Giant reed 'a giant danger to environment' From: AAP November 19, 2009 4:36AM THE Australian Government is being warned not to play with fire by promoting the use of an invasive weed to produce bio...
Tagged: Australia, invasive, Reed, Giant, Arundo
Started by Peter Harper in Biofuels News Nov 22.
Position of SEPA on sewage in anearobic digesters - is the compost a waste or a product?
There appears to be a problem with the perception - by SEPA - of the capacity of the anaerobic process plus pasteurization to render the compost , if it started out containing any amount of sewage,...
Started by Timothy John Ross Havard in Biofuels News Nov 16.
Disease and pest of Jatropha curcas in West Bengal, India. 3 Replies
As such no disease and pest have been recorded in cultivated area. As the cultivated area is dry land, natural Termite ( Odontotermis sp.) colony/ Mound is found in the area that causes no harm to ...
Started by Prof. Narayan Chandra Chattopadhyay in Jatropha. Last reply by Andrea Valdes Nov 15.
Pests of Jatropha 16 Replies
I was looking for information on as to what insect pests and diseases attack Jatropha (either the crop J. curcas) or the weed (J. jatrophiifolia) and found very little so far. There was one abstrac...
Started by Matthew Cock in Jatropha. Last reply by JOSE INES BAZAN-MOTA Nov 13.
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