Biofuel: Poverty alleviation turns green

Farmers in Yunnan are about to start cultivation of Jatropha on low-quality soils as part of a new Amity project.

Jatropha is a hardy plant which grows on sandy grounds and even saline soils. Because it thrives under inhospitable circumstances, it does not compete with edible crops for soil and water.  Crushed, the seeds eventually yield a high-quality bio-diesel which can be used in cars, trucks or even airplanes. Jatropha is highly efficient. One hectare produces alsmost 2000 liters of bio-fuel (ten times as much as maize) and one tree can yield crops for up to half a century. What is left after processing the seeds can be used as fertilizer.

Amity forged a cooperation between the German Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (EED), the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (FELM), Yunnan provincial authorities and the China National Petroleum Company to help poor farmers in Huaping County and other areas near Panzhihua fight erosion, raise the tree coverage in the area, earn a living despite the low quality of their farmland and contribute to the global effort to substitute for fossil fuel with CO2-neutral substances. Amity’s efforts to encourage farmers in Huaping to grow Jatropha and other plants compatible with the local exosystem is part of a large-scale integrated project in Yunnan – the biggest ever implemented by Amity.