Progress on Jatropha Test Plantation

This week Jean-Marie and I signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) agreeing to conditions regarding our test plantation. This moves us one step closer to planting.

We have several critical milestones that we need to meet in order to get started:

1. Recruiting farmers and an agronomer in June

2. Preparing the land

3. Plowing the land – June 1st – July 1st and installing the drip irrigation system.

4. Shipping 300 cuttings from Costa Rica by June 20th

5. Gathering cuttings from Burundi

6. Planting begins on July 1st

That means we are now just over 1 month away from the official start date of the project. I will be sending over a digital camera and laptop in late June to allow Jean-Marie to begin taking photos and documenting the test plantation. Once I begin receiving photos, I will provide updates on my blog.

 

John Mann

Gearing up to Grow Jatropha

On April 1st-5th I was in Costa Rica for the Jatropha Harvest Experience. I was there to present the results of our Jatropha oil tests. We converted Jatropha oil to jet fuel using a patent pending hydrothermal process developed by ARA. I was joined by my colleague, Dr Lixiong Li, who invented the process. The picture below is of the entrance to Ed Acosta's Jatropha farm in Tarcoles. Following the first day of presentations, we spent a day at Ed's farm, learning about Jatropha cultivation.



I tried to look like a cowboy and ride a horse, but I'll need quite a bit of practice to catch up with my kids since they've been riding every week.



See what I mean?



Now this one might be more my style -



So to get back to my purpose in this blog entry...

I brought back three more Jatropha cuttings, which you can see in the photo below. Click the photo to view a larger image. I brought the leafy one on the left home in November and it's doing well. The other three were planted about 2 weeks ago and they rooted in about a week. You may not be able to see them, but there are tiny buds on the new cuttings.



This is an experiment I'm running to understand Jatropha cultivation. Elizabeth is the real gardener in the family, so she has been helping me. All of that to say that our test plantation in Burundi, Africa is soon to be a reality. I will be posting updates to my blog as we proceed, including photos of the plantation. Here is where we are at this point:

1. We determined that a 1/4 hectare plantation is a good size to begin with. For reference, a hectare is 100 x 100 meters or roughly 2.5 acres. We will plant with enough space between cuttings to allow intercropping with a food crop such as sunflowers for producing sunflower oil. I am shipping 300 cuttings from Costa Rica and we will gather 300 more from Burundi. Jean-Marie, the Executive Directory of SHINE will be overseeing the project in Burundi. Note that Jatropha cuttings will propagate faster than seeds, but they require irrigation to grow successfully.

2. On or near July 1st of this year, the workers will begin preparing the land. They will install a drip irrigation system, which is essential for the cuttings to succeed. I should note that we have several advisors assisting with this project, including an agronomist from Burundi, an agronomist from Nigeria, and we have access to several others as well as experts in plant insects and diseases.

3. Once the land is ready, the workers will begin planting 600 cuttings. I expect the plants to begin showing growth within 2 weeks and major growth in several months.

4. At our first harvest (approximately 9 months, give or take) we will extract the seeds. We already have a seed buyer lined up in Tanzania, although we will need to expand the plantation before it will be practical to sell seed.

5. We have applied to several organizations for additional funding, most recently the Ford Foundation. I believe having the test plantation will help us achieve funding as it proves the viability of Jatropha cultivation and will allow us to estimate yields.

Please continue to pray for the success of this plan as it will ultimately create jobs for many people. My dream is to travel the world, helping people wherever we go. Kim and I are filing applications for the kid's passports this week so they can join us on some of these trips.

Peace and blessings,
John

Costa Rica update

I am writing this from Jaco, Costa Rica where I have been at a conference called the Jatropha Harvest Experience. I was invited to present the results of my company's conversion of Jatropha oil into jet fuel. The conference was organized by my good friends at the Costa Rica Seed Company. We had over 50 attendees from 11 countries, coming from as far away as Nigeria, Africa.

As a result of the conference, I have made some adjustments to my plan for growing Jatropha in Burundi, Africa. I have come to the conclusion after meeting with agronomists and growers that we need to start with a small test plantation. To that end, I have developed a test plantation concept that will have roughly 500 jatropha plants. This test plantation will allow us to experiment with different varieties, irrigation, pruning, fertilization, disease, and pest control. What we learn will be directly applicable to the 100 hectare plantation. My hope is that we can begin with the test plantation this August and cultivate it for one year. Following this test, we will refine the concept for the larger plantation.

Thank you for your prayers. I have made significant progress over the last 5 months with respect to defining this plan. I will continue to press forward because it is essential to helping provide jobs in Burundi.

Peace and blessings,
John