FARM VILLAGE ACTIVATION PROJECT ON BIOFUEL CROPS IN LAOS

Abstract

Mixing gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel oil with biofuel is recommended to control global warming. Another aspect is the demand to progress economy of the farm village in Laos by the introduction of some cash crops. Therefore the compound project aiming at facilitating economic progress of the farm village and controlling global warming was planned. The project has the following objectives; to cultivate inedible biofuel crops that are suited for the climatic conditions at Laos, and to produce biodiesel fuel (BDF) from them. The main fuel crops intended to be planted are castor oil plant, jatropha, pongamia and hybrid coconut. Several years are required until beginning harvest of tree type biofuel crops. Because farmers require getting income from the first year when the biofuel crops are cultivated, the intercropping technology with the castor to be harvested in several months will be adopted. The castor can be harvested in the first stage (1-3 years), and jatropha will be harvested in the next stage (3-5 years), followed by the harvest of pongamia or the hybrid coconut from five years after planting. The producing process of the BDF would involve a technology that uses acid catalyst, which will ensure less discharge of the waste. And the BDF processing plants will be established in rural districts. This project will ensure that the farm village will progress economically by producing BDF from tree type biofuel crop with high yield. The produced BDF will be exported to Japan and consumed in Laos. The private sector joint venture of Laos and Japan contributes to CDM and global warming prevention.