Unusual.27 Jul 2007 16:01
Their choice of fertile land for planting is unusual. I would have thought that fertile land would increase the cost of the Jatropha and would be better suited for edible crops.
Mr. Lunardini told shareholders: 'We have now put in place a team of experts for
our much bigger transformational plan which, subject to funding, would aim at
planting 100,000,000 jatropha trees on 35sq kms of land within the next seven
years. Part of today's placement will be used for completion of options over
further prime land identified. A major fund raising is planned for the autumn
'.He added that the company would be unique in being in charge of every aspect of
production from developing the most productive variety of jatropha oilseed and
plant, choosing the most fertile sites, to managing the planting, the picking
and crushing operation.
'It will also be one of the pioneers of mechanical planting of jatropha from
seed. Our small trial carried out in January of germinating 1,000 jatropha
trees was very successful and confirmed fertile conditions such as to allow us
to sow the seed mechanically rather than planting saplings - giving substantial
savings.
'Our policy is to go for fertile and flat land suitable for machine planting.
Better land and better irrigation gives better oil yields' he said.