Thomro Biofuels implements a sustainable "food and fuel" system for Jatropha plantations that addresses major cost centers like weeding, pollination, pests/disease by incorporating livestock and poultry which provide additional food and income sources while improving yields. This integrated approach makes Jatropha products competitive with fossil fuels and provides more revenue from management activities than Jatropha alone. The system is concluded to be a win-win that supports both biofuels and agriculture industries.

1. Implementing a Sustainable “Food and Fuel”
System in Jatropha Plantation Management
Thomro Biofuels Experience
By
Prof. Thomson Sinkala
Managing Director, Thomro Biofuels
tsinkala@thomrobiofuels.com, www.thomrobiofuels.com
Presented at the South at the Steering Wheel workshop on
IMPROVING SUSTAINABILITY IN LAND INVESTMENT
FOR BIOENERGY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Held at Naturvårdsverket (Swedish EPA), Stockholm, Sweden
29 May 2012
1

2. CONTENT OF PRESENTATION
1.The Thomro approach
2.Observations
3.Conclusions
2

3. THE APPROACH
3

4. Thomro Biofuels Jatropha Field
4

5. Sequence of events in Jatropha
based biofuels industry
Weed
Management
-$
Pollination
-$
Pest /Disease
Management
-$
Fertilizer
Supply
-$
Harvest
&
Process
-$
Product
+$
At present, production of Jatropha oil is expensive, thus
making biodiesel more costly compared to fossil diesel. 5

6. 6
Major sources of costs
To reduce costs, innovative Jatropha plantation
management methods are required.
COST CENTRE SOURCES OF COSTS
Weeding Chemicals, poor yields, loss of crop, labour
Pollination Poor yields
Pests/disease management Chemicals, loss of crop, poor yields, labour
Fertilization Fertilisers, poor yields, labour
Harvesting Labour, loss of seeds

7. 7
APPROACH BY THOMRO BIOFUELS TO
IMPROVE PROFITABILITY

8. Weed Management
8
Goats
Food
and
Income
See also
http://english.cntv.cn/program/newshour/20110513/105054.shtml

9. Feed for Goats & Chickens in Dry Season - Examples
9
Bioethanol
Soy Beans
Sweet
Sorghum
Maize
Ground
Nuts
Mealie Meal
Biodiesel)
Livestock/Poultry Feed
Bioethanol
Soy Beans
Sweet
Sorghum
Maize
Ground
Nuts
Mealie Meal
Biodiesel
Cooking Oil
Livestock/Poultry Feed
Etc

10. Fencing livestock
10
Agave for fence
More than 10,000 litres/Ha

11. Pollination
Septic
flies
Honey
Bees
Food and Income
11

12. Termite/Insects Management
Chickens, guinea fowl, etc, are natural predators and will eat a large number of insects available.
http://www.smallstock.info/info/health/tick-poultry.htm
Saves costs
and
Environment
Food
and
Income
Use Poultry
Use Tephrosia Vogelii 12
Termites
Golden flea beetles

13. Management of Other Diseases/Pests
Chickens, along with other
poultry such as guinea fowl, are
natural predators and will eat a
large number of insects.
http://www.smallstock.info/info/health/tick-
poultry.htm
Saves costs
and
Environment
Food
and
Income
Poultry
Tephrosia Vogelii
Tephrosia can be used with garden
vegetables, fruits and field crops, to
control termites, ants, beetles, aphids,
red spider mites, cutworms, various
bugs and weevils, stalk borers, flies,
etc.
13

14. Fertilizer Supply
1.0 tonne of dry seed of Jatropha per ha removes
14.3–34.3 kg of N, 0.7–7.0 kg of P, and 14.3–31.6 kg of K
http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1219e/i1219e.pdf
N% P% K% Ca% Mg% SOURCE
4.4 – 6.5 2.1 – 3.0 0.9 – 1.7 0.6 – 0.7 1.3 – 1.4 Achten et al. (2008)
3.0 – 4.5 0.65 – 1.2 0.8 – 1.4 Patolia et al. (2007)
4.91 0.9 1.75 0.31 0.68 Wani et al. (2006)
MACRONUTRIENT CONTENT OF JATROPHA SEED CAKE
14

15. Fertilizer Supply
Droppings from
poultry and
livestock
Tephrosia Vogelii
Jatropha
leaves
15

16. Treatments
Total Biomass
(t/ha)*
Nutrients (kg/ha)
N P K Ca Mg
T. vogelii 9.5 154 5.7 100 75 17
T. diversifolia 11.8 191 8.1 271 70 32
Natural fallow 3.8 54 2.6 52 10 7
Maize stover + cobs 3.1 34 2.1 37 8 8
MANURE Chicken Dairy cow Horse Steer Sheep
N-P-K 1.1, 0.80, 0.50 0.25, 0.15, 0.25 0.70, 0.30, 0.60 0.70, 0.30, 0.40 0.70, 0.30, 0.90
Approximate levels of common livestock/poultry manures
www.plantea.com/manure.htm
Nutrient accumulation during the six-month fallow period
*Total biomass = above ground, litter and root biomass.
Nutrient composition of Jatropha curcas leaves
Nutrient Source
Nutrients (kg/ha)
N P K Ca Mg
Leaves
6.40 0.34 2.45 1.40 0.53
4.70 0.15 3.77 0.61 0.49
www.pri.wur.nl/NR/rdonlyres/...47D5.../JatrophaWorld2008Claims.pdf
16

17. Examples of Crops Grown Using Manure
From Chickens, Goats and Jatropha Cake
17

18. Mushrooms in Jatropha plantation
Natural Foods
18

19. Six-year old (March 2011) Jatropha
observation plants in Lusaka, Zambia.
Corresponding yield is
about 10 Kg/plant
(Seeds in the above photo are PER PLANT).
Seed Yield
19

20. 20

21. 21
SOURCE OF INCOME FROM A
HECTARE OF JATROPHA
PRIME FUNCTION
CAPITAL
AMOUNT
TOTAL YIELD /
YEAR
HARVESTED /
YEAR
COST
(US$/UNIT)
REVENUE /
YEAR (US$)
PLANTATION MANAGEMENT
GOATS (live or meat) Weeding 20 goats 40 goats total 20 40 800
Goat milk
Goat hides
Goat manure
CHICKENS (Live/dressed) Pests/Fertilisation 40 chickens 1600 chicklings 1200 chickens 5 6000
Eggs
Chicken manure
BEES (Honey) Pollination
Beeswax/candles/etc.
SWEET SORGHUM (fodder)
Livestock/Poultry feed in
dry season (DS)
Bioethanol
Electricity
SOY BEANS (Soy cake) Livestock/Poultry feed - DS
Edible oil/biodiesel
MAIZE(Maize bran) Livestock/Poultry feed - DS
Mealie meal
JATROPHA PRODUCTS
Biodiesel Target product 2000
Biogas
Soap
Organic fertilizer
TOTAL = 8800

22. The Thomro plantation management
is therefore a win-win approach
Weed
Management
+$
Pollination
+$
Pest /Disease
Management
+$
Fertilizer
Supply
+$
Harvest
&
Process
-$
Product
+$
This makes Jatropha products significantly competitive
22

23. OBSERVATIONS
23

24. 24
We can see that in trying to address Jatropha
management issues to make its products competitive,
we consequently end up with outputs such as:
• Bioethanol / biodiesel;
• Food (Mealie meal, meat, milk, cooking oil, honey, etc);
• More money earned from Jatropha management products
than from Jatropha products themselves;
• Money made way before starting to reap from Jatropha.
Other than adding Jatropha to the familiar food crops, and
processing of biofuels, the trade of keeping goats, chickens
and bees is well known.

25. CONCLUSIONS
25

26.  The above win-win example shows that biofuels and
agricultural industries can be developed to be supportive of
each other.
 For biofuels to expand, Governments need to put in place
conducive policies and strategies that promote local uptakes
/ participation in biofuels industry.
 Drought resistant feedstocks/varieties should be
promoted/developed to minimize water demand and widen
the scope of participation in the biofuels industry.
 The global biofuels market is enormous, and projected
demand will not be met for a long time to come.
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27. The Biofuels Journey has Begun!!
27
Thank you for your attention
Play your part to promote it to reduce poverty
and increase food security in Africa