A local girl plants a jatropha seedling in a field near Lashio in Shan State. Pic: Myint Soe

BIOFUELS are popping up everywhere, although perhaps cropping up might be a better term because most of these alternatives to fossil fuels – petrol or diesel – come from plants.

In Myanmar hopes of producing substantial amounts of biofuel – in this case biodiesel – rest with Jatropha Curcas.

Evergreen jatropha shrubs can reach a height of 5 metres, with a greyish green bark that exudes white latex when cut. Crucially, it grows pods of green, poisonous nuts that harden and go brown or black just before they fall off the tree. It is these nuts that are used to produce biodiesel.

However, it’s not the nuts that has so many people interested in the plant, it’s jatropha’s ability to survive in bad soil – bad enough for India’s government to label it “wasteland”.

Interest in jatropha as a feedstock for biodiesel is strong in Myanmar.
Such is the government’s hunger to rid itself of costly diesel imports that it has allowed one Myanmar-run company – Plantation Resources Pte Ltd (PRPL) – to acquire a 100,000-acre plantation in Ayeyarwady division.

However, Singaporean-listed firm Yoma Strategic Holdings bought a 52.86 percent stake in PRPL in February.

Serge Pun, Chairman and CEO of Yoma Strategic Holdings, told Channel News Asia that the reasons for moving into biodiesel production are clear. According to a Yoma Strategic Holdings press release, the European Union set itself a goal that 2pc of all transport fuel used by 2005 must be biofuel and while that date has already passed, it will be upped to 5.75pc by 2010.

“If you’re looking at the total amount of diesel that’s being consumed today (worldwide) – which is around 700 million tonnes, and you’re saying 5pc of that has got to be biodiesel, you’re talking about 35 million tonnes of requirement. And that is nowhere near what the market produces today.”

Estimates from Credit Suisse point to yearly growth in the biodiesel market equalling 30pc until 2010, with 9.5 million tonnes expected to be produced worldwide by that time. Yoma said US$12 billion is likely to be invested in worldwide biodiesel refining capacity.

But Yoma is not the only company in Myanmar keen to exploit the jatropha plant. Yangon-based Indian businessman Aneil Vyas told The Myanmar Times that he has already put together a business plan to set up a plantation through his company, Agora Ventures.

At the moment the company is looking for the right location.
As far as investment in the production of biodiesel goes, the Agura Ventures input will be significantly dwarfed by the Yoma Strategic Holdings project; the initial investment will be worth around $500,000.

“Our plan is to set up a 2000-hectare plantation if we can but we will start with 100-200ha and then further develop from there,” he said.

“We are trying to find a location close to Yangon.”
The start date for the project, he said, is 2008.
“We are definitely going to start work on our jatropha plantation in 2008,” he said.

He has sought help with the project from both Malaysia and India – where much study has been done on jatropha. “We will be buying our seeds from India because they have been investigating jatropha curcas as a potential feedstock for biodiesel for a long time. There are also a lot of incentives offered by the government of India for people who are interested in growing jatropha curcas to produce biodiesel. There is a lot of knowledge and information we can get from that marketplace,” he said.

Planning for the project started in 2005 and has included a number of meetings with experts from both Malaysia – to investigate intercropping with rubber – and India, both of which have invested heavily in biodiesel production.
It took 1.5 years to finish the plans and will take, in Mr Vyas’ considered opinion, another year to set up the project.

Mr Vyas said the fuel produced by Agora Ventures is slated for the domestic market and it will take about five years for the plants to start producing a commercially viable crop, meaning 2013 will be the earliest that biodiesel from Agora Ventures will enter the market.

Environmentally, biodiesel made from jatropha nuts is much greener than that made from palm oil.

Likewise, physic nuts can also be grown in poor soil, unlike palm trees that must be planted in tropical areas – often at the expense of forests.

Also, the amount of harmful greenhouse gases produced by jatropha crops is much lower than palm oil plantations, which pump out so much methane gas – caused by the decomposition of plant matter – that the Netherlands has already banned imports of fuel made from palm oil.

Jatropha is bitter, poisonous and cannot be eaten, but for farmers in marginal lands it makes an excellent livestock fence.

Another useful spin-off from jatropha nuts is the waste material left behind when they are crushed to make oil. The pressed “cake” can be dried and burned as fuel for households or to power electricity generators, according to the Renewable Energy Website (UK).

The website also says jatropha can be intercropped with other plants like coffee, fruits and vegetables, making it an ideal option for farmers needing both a cash and subsistence crop.