Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a geographical region consisting of 49 countries, out of which, 39 countries have experiences with the cultivation of Jatropha curcas L. Since the year 2000 Jatropha production escalated in the region and peaked in around 2007/2008. The major drivers of this trend were claims made about Jatropha including include its ability to grow on marginal lands, high seed and oil yields, and drought tolerant, amongst other attributes. However, the reality has shown that these attributes have not been realised. The objective of the present paper is to analyse the performance of Jatropha as a biofuel feedstock in SSA based on agronomic, economic, social and environmental factors involved in its production. Evidences in SSA show that the major challenge with Jatropha cultivation has been low seed yields, ranging between 0.1 and 2 t/ha. This in turn has led to oil yields which are not sufficiently viable for use in production of biofuels such as biodiesel. There have also been reported challenges with production on wastelands, low use of inputs, unimproved planting materials and vulnerability to pests and diseases. These have negatively affected the performance of Jatropha causing the original claims made about this energy crop not materialised in the SSA.
Highlights
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a geographical region covering parts of the African continent located south of the Sahara
In order to do this, this paper describes the claims made about Jatropha under agronomic, environmental, economic and social factors
Reasons that can be given for the poor viability of Jatropha farming include the following: (a) High requirement for labour (b) High opportunity cost when grown on fertile land (c) Low producer prices (d) Low seed yields The combination of these issues is a definite amalgamated factor that has caused challenges with Jatropha as a biofuel feedstock
Summary
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a geographical region covering parts of the African continent located south of the Sahara. It is a fact that up until the rise in popularity of Jatropha in 2000, there were few trials and little experience in the SSA in growing Jatropha as a commercial crop (Von Maltitz et al, 2014). This rapidly changed as by 2007, the Global Exchange for Social Investment (GEXSI) estimated that 119,000 ha of Jatropha had been planted in 97 projects in the SSA (Renner et al, 2008). GEXSI’s projections at that time were that more than 2.2 million hectares of Jatropha would have been planted in the SSA by 2015.
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