MALNUTRITION: Pakistan: The heedless rush towards cultivating biofuel crops

The heedless rush towards cultivating biofuel crops in Pakistan is quite liable to exacerbate malnutrition levels which, according to a recent World Food Programme report, have already reach the staggering figure of 21-23 per cent in rural Sindh, figures six to nine per cent above the internationally recognised emergency point of 15 per cent. It is higher than in the vast majority of African countries where globally recognised charities work around the clock struggling to alleviate horrendous nutritional shortcomings.

Malnutrition in Pakistan is not restricted to the millions of flood affected people throughout the country but is also clearly evident, and on the increase, amongst many millions of people with low or negligible incomes for both urban and rural dwellers alike.
According to the oft repeated mantra of the ministry of agriculture ‘there is no shortage of food’ in the country yet. Be this as it may, it is also true that a high percentage of the population can no longer, thanks to rampant inflation, afford to purchase the food on offer. However, this does not automatically give the government, along with indigenous and foreign investors and existing agricultural concerns, the right to switch over from cultivating food crops to crops solely intended for what is currently perceived as a lucrative biofuel market.
The ongoing energy crisis, further fuelled by the lure of carbon credit trading and dreams of profiting from funding promised to ventures intended to combat global warming, is encouraging Pakistani agriculturalists, often working hand in hand with corporate interests and government departments, to stop growing food which is a dangerous trend indeed.
The most talked about biofuel material at present is that of a tropical American plant called Jatropha curcas which is being planted, often illegally by using smuggled seed, by growers in Sindh, Balochistan and in the agricultural heartland of the Punjab with even Pakistan State Oil having jumped on the Jatropha bandwagon by setting up an experimental plantation outside Karachi in recent years.
Entrepreneurs claim that cultivating Jatropha does not infringe of food production in any way as it can be cultivated on marginal, waste and arid land of which, they claim, there is over 80 million acres in the country. What they do not say, quite naturally, is that there are vast numbers of people eking out some kind of living from these lands which are utilised in the production of subsistence crops and for the grazing of livestock. Neither do they publicise the hard fact that whilst Jatropha is claimed to have the ability to produce 10 times for oil than corn, this has not yet been proven on a commercial scale plus, even though it is drought tolerant once established, (this means irrigation is required for young plantations).
Moreover, it needs, according to a Dutch study, five times more water to produce a unit of energy than do either sugarcane or corn and 10 times more water than sugar beet making it, in fact, a rather thirsty crop which, if it doesn’t get adequate moisture, does not produce the anticipated oil for use in biofuels. Thus, it goes without saying, if water was available to be diverted to these 80 million acres of ‘waste’ land, it could be used for increased food production on all levels including that of meat and dairy which are often in short supplies.
There has even been talk of growing Jatropha with financial inputs from South Korea with the crop intended for export and processing there not here which is of no benefit to Pakistan, other than financially, whatsoever. The name ‘Jatropha’ may be familiar to some gardeners as members of this genus, dangerous attractive to mealie bugs which could spread on to other crops, were introduced as ornamentals many years ago.
Second on the booming biofuel cultivation list in Pakistan is the legumus tree Pongamia pinnata, an arid zone, drought tolerant species indigenous to tropical and temperate Asia and from which ‘hongo oil’ has been extracted for thousands of years. But, as with Jatropha, it is necessary to wait a number of years until harvesting can begin which is where other, ‘edible’ dangers arise.
The government is already evaluating the use of sugarcane as a biofuel and if this becomes a reality then sugar prices will surge as availability declines. Other important food crops with important biofuel potential include: canola, soy, rape seed, mustard, palm oil, wheat, corn, sugar beet and sunflower although as perennial grasses are also being examined; livestock and dairy production could also be adversely affected in the long term.
With global food prices at their highest ever, the price of American corn has increased by 79 per cent over the last year as a direct result of much of the crop is now destined for biofuel refineries, the immediate affect has been ‘to push another estimated 44 million people in low and middle-income brackets into poverty’ says the World Bank which is extremely concerned about the potential impact of biofuel production on world food stocks.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/17/food-production-the-hazardous-trend.html

POVERTY: Jatropha - not really green

 Photo: Ton Rulkens/Flickr
Jatropha not quite the perfect green fuel

JOHANNESBURG, 23 March 2011 (IRIN) - A new study has put the brakes on a rush by some countries and companies to establish plantations of jatropha, an oil-bearing shrub and cousin of the castor bean bush, as a source of biofuel.
The study by ActionAid, an anti-poverty NGO, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and Nature Kenya, a conservation society, looked at whether biofuel made from jatropha grown in the Dakatcha woodlands in Kenya’s coastal district of Malindi, could indeed be a green fuel.
Chris Coxon of ActionAid said the oil yield of the seed from plants grown on land earmarked for jatropha cultivation in Malindi would determine whether the shrub provided a viable alternative to fossil fuel.
Previous land use was another critical factor. The study found that throughout the production and consumption process in the Dakatcha woodlands, the jatropha would emit between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases than fossil fuels, largely because of clearing the forest, which stores massive amounts of carbon in its vegetation and soil, to make room for the plant.
Other studies have also found that the yield from jatropha can vary considerably, because contrary to the popular perception that it can thrive in semi-arid conditions, the plants need water and nutrients to produce high yields.
So, if an investment in irrigation and fertilizer is required, why not grow food crops instead, the study argued. Much of the biofuel from the Dakatcha woodlands project, when it starts producing, is destined for Europe to meet regional targets for switching to renewable energy.
The study underlined what a joint UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) report on jatropha had found in 2010 - that the shrub was useful as a bio-energy crop for cultivation by small-scale farmers.
"Some communities in the dry sahel of Africa have told us they are not against jatropha, only large plantations established by foreign companies for export without their consent," said Tim Rice, ActionAid's biofuels expert.
"They proposed growing small plots of jatropha on their own agriculural land or as a 'hedge' to divide fields. Used locally, it could be used as fuel for stoves, irrigation pumps and generators."
But even then, growing jatropha could prove uneconomical if there was no investment in developing higher oil-yielding, non-toxic varieties.
The Kenyan government has suspended clearing the full 50,000 hectares of forest, which would have displaced 20,000 people for the proposed plantation in Dakatcha, pending an environmental impact assessment, the study said.
“What concerns us is the growing move towards massive plantations of jatropha in developing countries,” said Coxon.

Here is a closer look at jatropha and why it has caught the imagination of so many.
How many?
In 2008, jatropha was planted on an estimated 900,000 hectares globally; 760,000 hectares (85 percent of the total) were located in Asia, followed by Africa with 120,000 hectares and Latin America with 20,000 hectares. By 2015, jatropha would be planted on a projected 12.8 million hectares, according to an FAO report.
By comparison, maize, one of the world’s major staple grain crops, is planted on more than 160 million hectares.
In another four years, Indonesia will be the largest jatropha producing country in Asia. In Africa, Ghana and Madagascar will be the biggest producers, while Brazil will be the main producer in Latin America.

Why jatropha?
Jatropha has a long history of being recognized as a substitute for fossil fuel. During the Second World War it was used as a replacement for diesel in Madagascar, Benin and Cape Verde, while its glycerine by-product was used to make nitro-glycerine, used in explosives and medicines for treating heart conditions.
FAO said jatropha had gained some ground as a source of oil for producing biodiesel because of the common perception that it could be grown in semi-arid regions with low nutrient requirements and little care.
Jatropha's extensive roots allow it to reach water deeper in the soil and extract leached mineral nutrients unavailable to many other plants. The surface roots also help bind the soil and can reduce erosion. Compared to other biofuel crops such as sugarcane, it requires less water.
It is a non-edible crop, “So the biodiesel sector does not compete with food and feed use of this crop,” said Simla Tokgoz, a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a US-based think-tank. Other feedstocks used in biodiesel production are rapeseed, soybean, coconut, and palm.
Jatropha is still in the early stages of development as a biofuel but is expected to be a less expensive source for biodiesel production, which could increase profitability, Tokgoz said.
Jatropha oil can be used directly in some diesel engines without being converted into biodiesel, but because it has a higher viscosity than mineral diesel, it works better in tropical environments, where temperatures are higher.

Is it a viable alternative?
Large-scale biodiesel production will need more water, and in water-stressed conditions this could lead to conflict. The FAO/IFAD report said jatropha biodiesel conformed to the required European and USA quality standards, but cautioned that "It is not a technology suited to resource-poor communities in developing countries."
Biodiesel production also requires expertise, equipment, and the ability to handle large quantities of dangerous chemicals such as toxic methanol and highly corrosive sodium hydroxide.
When comparisons are made of the return on labour input Jatropha performs poorly against other biofuel feedstocks, but much depends on the level of yields, which need to be improved, the FAO/IFAD report said.
Jatropha has a marketable non-edible by-product, but it is less valuable than canola, for example, which can be consumed by animals, said Tokgoz.
Instead of competing for agricultural land, or removing forests or displacing communities, Tokgoz suggested planting government wasteland or contract farming using small- and medium-scale farmers. But again, this would mean investment in irrigation, inputs and efforts to improve yields.
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.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=92267

MALNUTRITION: Farming in cities could help feed the world

Lucía Atehortúa ( lecturer in biotechnology at the Biology Institute, Exact and Natural Sciences Faculty, Universidad de Atioquia, Medellín, Colombia).
2 December 2010

  Flickr/CIAT/Neil Palmer: Cell culture may cater for future urban agriculture needs

With traditional food production under threat from climate change, we should switch from agriculture to cell culture, says Lucía Atehortúa. If climate change begins to limit the global production of food and energy crops, it will be necessary to develop a new system of food production.
Imagine agriculture in small spaces, using high-tech tools such as photo-bioreactors, generating clean products 24 hours a day, every day, regardless of external climatic factors. Imagine that this would be free of pathogens and agrochemicals, independent of the seasons, and with the possibility of growing genetically modified crops without interacting with the environment or affecting existing biodiversity.
This is 'urban biofarming', a kind of high-tech agriculture primarily developed for big cities. Food production and food security were under threat from urbanisation and population growth even before the prospect of a global climatic catastrophe. With this in mind, we at the University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia, have been conducting a series of investigations into differentiated cell and tissue culture for the cultivation of future food and energy products.
So far, our work has focused on using cell culture to produce cocoa, the oil of the Barbados nut Jatropha curcas, and orange juice. Other plant species in the pipeline include sugar cane, corn, wheat and barley. These efforts could be a milestone in demonstrating the feasibility of urban biofarming.

Limits to genetic modification
One solution to the potential failure of conventional agriculture is genetic modification, which can make crops resistant to environmental extremes, such as droughts or floods.
However, it is unrealistic to expect this to be developed for every kind of food. This would require huge financial resources, lots of scientific research, and long periods of time for the crops to pass all the necessary biosecurity protocols before they can be planted in fields in direct contact with the natural environment. The crops would also need to adapt well and have high enough yields to feed the world.
Genetically modified organisms face another obstacle: they are the focus of considerable social concern. We should really look elsewhere for the answer.
The alternative could be plant biotechnology — specifically, the in vitro culture of cells and tissues of edible parts of certain crops or fruit. As yet, however, there is little scientific literature on such research.
Cell culture also allows the synthesis of new natural products, makes it possible to create 'bio-factories' to convert low-value crops into high-value products and generates new compounds not normally produced under natural conditions. You can generate new products that do not exist in the market today — for example, mixing cocoa cells with almond cells to generate a cocoa-almond taste product. You can also induce the cells by using compounds called precursors to produce other new compounds by way of biotransformation.

Commercial production
The use of cell culture has already had a big impact on research in physiology and biochemistry, especially in studies of cellular metabolism and work to determine the effect of substances such as plant hormones on cellular responses.
In genetics, cloning has allowed the improvement of cell cultures through the fusion of protoplasts — plant cells from which the cell wall has been removed — and genetic transformation. Progress has been so good that with modern techniques it is now possible not only to culture free cells, but also to allow cell division in an isolated culture and use this to grow whole plants.
Additionally, the in vitro cultureof cells suspended in liquid provides a system for the commercial production of a large quantity of plant products known as primary and secondary metabolites.
If these production systems are stable and competitively priced, they can potentially be scaled up for commercial and industrial use.
Crop production of this sort could help preserve biodiversity, since you would not need more land or forest destruction for agriculture, would use less water, and avoid using up primary land. It could be implemented anywhere on the planet, and even in space.
Cell and tissue culture have the potential for both basic research and applied research to develop industrial products, such as fragrances, dyes, gums and resins, especially for countries such as Colombia that have considerable plant biodiversity. But they are rarely implemented in these countries — most of the research is carried out in developed countries with relatively little biodiversity.
Biodiversity is important here because cell culture aims to reproduce the original, parental material, so this needs to be of sufficiently high quality. Any plant parts used for tissue culture must also be of similarly high quality.

Cost concerns
Most of the existing research in this field focuses on the production of secondary metabolites, partly because traditional agricultural systems are widely seen as being more economically feasible and secure for food production. But climate change could swing the balance towards cell culture.
The high cost of cell culture is largely attributable to the technological tools it requires, so at the moment it is not really feasible for developing countries to produce their food in this way. But as so often happens with technology, once it gains popularity and becomes widely used, competition soon drives the price down.
It seems, though, that there has never been a thorough cost analysis of the whole process, from basic production through cell cultures to pilot industrial-scale production, with costs being evaluated at each stage.
When cell culture techniques have been properly costed in this way, they can be compared with conventional agricultural production of the same crop under natural conditions, and the environmental benefits can also be compared.
In 20 to 30 years this new production system could help to feed the world and give us opportunities to survive in the event of an environmental catastrophe.
But for that to happen, it must be implemented worldwide as soon as possible, so we can be prepared for whatever the future brings.
http://www.scidev.net/en/opinions/farming-in-cities-could-help-feed-the-world-1.html

POVERTY: jatropha tree: Reality check for 'miracle' biofuel crop

Miyuki Iiyama and James Onchieku
27 October 2010

The jatropha tree requires adequate fertiliser and water, as well as pruning to increase its flowering branches



Flickr/ treestf

The hardy jatropha tree as a biofuel source may not be the panacea for smallholders that some have claimed, say Miyuki Iiyama and James Onchieku.
It sounds too good to be true: a biofuel crop that grows on semi-arid lands and degraded soils, replaces fossil fuels in developing countries and brings huge injections of cash to poor smallholders.
That is what some are claiming for Jatropha curcas, the 'miracle' biofuel crop. But studies on the ground suggest a lot more research and development (R&D) is needed before farmers can come close to seeing any of the promised benefits.
So what exactly is jatropha, and what has a 'reality check' on its potential revealed?
About jatropha
Jatropha is a small tree that grows to 3–5 metres in height and a member of the Euphorbiaceae family. It is native to Central America but is now grown in many parts of the tropics and subtropics. The seeds, which contain up to 35 per cent oil, can be processed into biodiesel for transport and biofuel for lighting and cooking.
It is poisonous and cannot be used for food. In many places, it is also grown as a fence to exclude livestock, and is also used for traditional medicine. The seed cake, a by-product from biofuel production, can be used for fertiliser and animal feed, provided it is detoxified. The roots, which are able to reach water and nutrients deep in the soil, can cut soil erosion.
A report by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) found that in 2008 jatropha was planted on about 900,000 hectares globally, the bulk - 760,000 hectares - in Asia, along with 120,000 hectares in Africa and 20,000 in Latin America.
But by 2015 jatropha planting will have risen more than ten times to 12.8 million hectares worldwide, the report estimates
The hype
It has only been in the past few years that interest in jatropha as a biofuel crop has mounted, particularly because of its purported ability to thrive on marginal land and in drought conditions.
As for claims about the tree's fast-growing nature, early fruiting, pest and disease resistance due to its toxicity, and its potential to not only produce biodiesel, but also as fuel for light and heat for cooking.
The media has chimed in too, with articles about the potential for jatropha to stop deforestation and provide greatly-increased incomes as international investments promise to convert wasteland into plantations that create thousands of jobs. Typical statements have been: 'Jatropha doesn't have to compete with food crops for arable land', and 'even in the worst of soils, it grows like weeds.'
In an attempt to test the claims, Endelevu Energy, the World Agroforestry Centre and the Kenya Forestry Research Institute embarked on the Reality Check study supported by the German government, which we published last December.
The reality
The main finding of the Reality Check is that jatropha is not economically viable when grown by smallholders in Kenya, either in a monoculture or intercrop plantation model. This is due to low yields and high production costs, and a lack of guidelines for applying agronomic and silvicultural best practices.
Hundreds of farmers we interviewed for the study spoke of extremely low yields and uneconomical production costs. Many had paid as much as US$12–20 per kilogram for seeds, but received little or no advice on crop management, and were unable to access markets for the small number of seeds harvested. They chose to abandon the jatropha they had planted.
The only case where we would recommend jatropha cultivation — and where it makes economic sense — is as a natural fence, as this needs few inputs. This is the way jatropha has been grown in East Africa since it was introduced centuries ago.
As for the claim that jatropha can grow almost anywhere, our research found that while this may be the case, high yields are not guaranteed. Even in ideal conditions, the tree requires management to become productive, including pruning to increase the number of flowering branches, and adequate fertiliser and water.
In addition, more than 75 per cent of farmers we spoke to reported at least one pest or disease in the course of a year, including golden beetle, leaf spotting, mildew and fungus.
Meeting of minds
While we were analysing the situation in Kenya, the FAO and IFAD were conducting their review into the anti-poverty potential of jatropha at a global level.
Our report shares many of their conclusions, in particular that yields are marginal, at best, and many of the investments and policy decisions on developing jatropha as an oil crop have been made without sufficient scientific evidence.
"Realising the true potential of jatropha requires separating facts from the claims and half truths," the FAO/IFAD report says.It does recognise that if well exploited, jatropha could provide opportunities for good returns and rural development, but "expecting jatropha to substitute significantly for oil imports in developing countries is unrealistic".
Too soon for promises
So, while it is possible that jatropha could eventually evolve into a higher yielding oil crop that is productive on marginal lands, and markets could be established for its oil and other useful by-products, it is far too soon to make such promises.
The reality is that jatropha is still essentially a semi-wild plant and as such its seed yields, oil quality and oil content are all highly variable. Considerable research is needed into the agronomy of jatropha and crop improvement.
The FAO/IFAD report recommends short-term research focused on producing superior clonal plants, with longer-term work on developing improved varieties with reliable trait expression and a seed production system that ensures farmer have access to productive and reliable planting materials.
For now, the main potential of jatropha is as part of a strategy to reclaim degraded land, provide a source of locally processed and used oil, and as a hedgerow to control grazing. Until further R&D is conducted — by establishing jatropha trials in various agro-ecological zones, with farmers informed of best practices — significant plantations remain risky and uneconomical. Only 'business as usual' should continue.Miyuki Iiyama is a fellow at the World Agroforestry Centre; James Onchieku is principal research officer at the Kenya Forestry Research Institute.

http://www.scidev.net/en/opinions/reality-check-for-miracle-biofuel-crop.html