advantages of jatropha cultivation

Advantages of using Jatropha Curcas.
- The oil yield per hectare for Jatropha is among the highest for tree-borne oil seeds.
The seed production ranges from about 0.4 tons per hectare per year to over 12 t/ha.
There are reports of oil yields as high as 50 per cent from the seed.

Typically, the seed production would be 3.75 t/ha, with oil yield of

30-35 per cent, giving net oil yield of about 1.2 t/ha.

- It can be grown in areas of low rainfall (200 mm per year), on low

fertility, marginal, degraded, fallow and waste lands. Canals, roads

railway tracks, borders of farmers’ fields as a boundary fence/hedge in

arid areas and even alkaline soils are appropriate for the crop.

- Jatropha is easily established in nurseries, grows relatively quickly and is hardy.

- Jatropha seeds are easy to collect as they are ready to be plucked

before the rainy season and as the plants are not very tall.

- Jatropha is not browsed by animals.

- Being rich in nitrogen, the seed cake is an excellent source of plant nutrients.
In addition, jatropha was held up as a reliable source of income for

India’s poor rural farmers. For instance, jatropha oil could provide

energy self-sufficiency for people living in isolated villages; and as

jatropha is a hardy plant, it can grow in wastelands, which might allow

farmers to diversify their basket of crops, and decrease in turn their

vulnerability to weather vagaries.

by kunal