FAO – Jatropha: A Smallholder Crop

Jatropha: A Smallholder Crop. The Potential for Pro-Poor Development, 2010.

Full-text: http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1219e/i1219e.pdf (pdf, 2.3MB)

FAO.

As developing countries face increasing local demand for energy in rural areas, they are also dealing with both economic and environmental pressure on agricultural lands. The possibility of growing energy crops such as Jatropha Curcas L. has the potential to enable smallholder farmers, producers and processors to cope with these pressures.

There are clear advantages to using plant oil instead of traditional biomass for cooking. These include the health benefits from reduced smoke inhalation, and environmental benefits from avoiding the loss of forest
cover and lower harmful GHG emissions, particularly carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides.

The high viscosity of jatropha oil compared to kerosene presents a problem that necessitates a specially designed stove. There are two basic designs – one uses pressure to atomize the oil and one uses a wick.

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