Hundreds of farmers from the South-West region of the country, last week, converged on the city of Ibadan, Oyo State, to learn more ways of making money from Jatropha Curcas, a plant globally regarded as green gold.

The organiser of the Jatropha curcas planting and processing training programme, the Ol Green Energy Technologies Limited, Anfani, Ibadan, Oyo State, in collaboration with some agriculture experts, who came from Europe and Asia to partner with the Nigeria agriculture farm exposed jatropha farmers in the region of the country to ways of achieving more success from jatropha farming, as well as welcome some interested people in jatropha farming and passing.

Those who showed interest in jatropha farming were also taught different ways and methods to plant the golden crop and process harvested seeds into biodiesel and other money-spinning by-products.

Participants were also made to realise that the biodiesel could be exported in exchange for foreign currencies and could also be used to power and run diesel engines such as cars, buses, trucks, construction equipment, boats, generators, trains and other oil-using home heating units.

According to a reputable and internationally acclaimed Jatropha Curcas production and processing expert from India, Mr Mervin Joshua, who lectured the participating farmers on the need to embrace jatropha farming if they wanted to join the leagues of millionnaire farmers, “the plant and its seeds, which is known as Ewe Lapalapa in Yoruba language, has become a phenomenon, not only in Europe and Asian countries, but also  in some African countries because the small shrub is now a major interest to many commercial farmers globally.

“In fact, it is one of the best crops now and a good source of bio-fuel, which is competing with fossil fuel all over the world today,” he said.
Speaking further, Mr Joshua, who is also the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of MJ International Group, India, the world acclaimed biggest and largest Jatropha Curcas farm and refinery in the world, also appealed to private companies in the country as well as government at all levels to embrace this type of farming, describing it as a better alternative to the down stream sector and a good income generation for country that adopt its planting.

“Nigeria has the potential of becoming one of the leading economies in the world, if it can embrace jatropha farming and processing. It also has other advantages. One can also extract biodiesel from the seeds. Jatropha Curcas is the green gold that could be planted on marginal or waste land. It is not edible for both animals or humans; it is environment-friendly, and has become a hot cake in the aviation industry. It could change the status of a farmer from “kobonnaire” to multi-millionaire within a short period of time,” he said.

Another speaker at the occasion, Mr Danesan Moorthy, a Jatropha curcas expert from Malaysia, said the green gold is now contributing fast to the development of Malaysia economy.

He said the local market for Jatropha Curcas and its by-products is readily available in Nigeria. He, therefore, thus charged Nigerian farmers not only to embrace its farming, but  strive to establish the seed crushing and biodiesel refinery plant in the country.

The reputable agronomist from Malaysia also urged Nigerian farmers to plant only the hybrid species whose oil content he, said, is above that of the local, wild and unprofitable specie.

In their different addresses to the participants, the organisers of the programme and the directors of Ol Green Energy Technologies Limited (formerly known as Biotop Biofuel Technologies Ltd), Ibadan, Messrs Olajiga Temitope and Oladunjoye Waleola, urged the farmers to increase their production in order to generate more revenue from the plant.

According to Mr Olajiga Temitope, any interested farmer needs minimal input or management to become a millionnaire  within a short period of time.

“Interested farmers who are into a peasant farming can start jatropha farming on one acre of land, while an investor can start with twenty acres of land and above and keep expanding every year.  Jatropha Curcas can stay for 35 years after planting, the tree can also live for over 15 years, while it takes an average of three to four years to mature.  

“A farmer would start to harvest the fruits, which contain the seeds where the green gold (i.e. biodiesel) would be extracted between nine to ten months after planting.  Therefore, I encouraged farmers to rush into this type of farming and I also implored our government at all levels to use it as an employment creation scheme  for our jobless youths,” he advised.

Also speaking to farmers, Mr Oladunjoye Waleola tasked them to invest in jatropha farming, saying the plant can grow almost everywhere as it is not grazed by cattle, sheep or goat.  

Jatropha Curcas, he further explained, can survive long periods of drought, requires low labour compared to other perennial crops and is resistant to pests and diseases.

In his words, “Jatropha curcas seeds will continue to produce oil-seeds for over 40 years, meaning it is a long term investment.  It’s by-product (cake)  can also be put back to the soil as fertiliser and biomass for electricity or biogas.

“Not only that, establishment of jatropha farm is not a full-time work, hence, it does not compete with one’s existing job or profession.  Honestly, it is a profitable venture as it brings back high investment returns.  In fact, the capital invested can be realised within the first or second year of establishment.  So, Jatropha curcas is hardy and the farm is easy to establish, as it grows relatively quickly.