[Stoves] new report on jatropha

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Thanks Nat

 

Glad to hear things are cooking for you too.

 

Re Japtopha:

"Jatropha is regarded by many as an invasive plant and has been declared a
noxious weed in parts of Australia, FAO pointed out. South Africa has banned
its commercial production."

 

The politics of that decision in South Africa have nothing to do with what
was reported above in the article. Let's say, it was not that simple. There
was a crop-nationalist fervour at the time which was successful in getting
the idea that 'all foreign plants' should be banned. As Dr Bill Mollison (he
of Permaculture fame) said in Mbabane to an indigenous plant advocate,
"There is nothing you eat that is not a foreign plant."

 

Zambia also banned it when the Durban-based company, faced with a ban at
home and already established, looked further afield to find producers. They
encouraged farmers in Swaziland, Zambian and Mozambique to produce it.
Zambia banned it not for 'any particular reason' but simply because South
Africa had banned it. They took the oft-heard position of claiming that the
rich down south were 'passing off their toxic crop growing onto the poor
nations further north' and 'they weren't even allowed to grow it in their
own country'. That sort of thing which included quite a bit of laying the
race card. I think after a while more sanity prevailed and that Zambia is
now producing some.

 

It is interesting how the argument about whether or not it should be a food
crop as well as an energy crop comes up so much. It doesn't seem to bother
people that trees are grown on vast acreage and can't be eaten. Or that
cabbages are grown on vast acreage and make a lousy fuel. It is a completely
artificial, emotion-raising argument. Growing maize for fuel does not
disturb the food market, but subsidies sure do! Wow. It is hard to be Green
and politically correct these days! So many things to oppose. 

 

When food goes bad (like maize) what better use of it than as a stove fuel?
Maize is a great pelletized bio-fuel.  There is a lot of crop waste that can
be used for fuel. It does not have to be the primary intention of the farmer
to make fuel, but it is a good fall-back position.

 

Regards

Crispin

 

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