28/01/2008 (The New Vision, Uganda) - AS the volatile Middle East continues to affect global oil supply, countries like Uganda are chocking on heavy oil import costs. Crude fossil oil prices touched $100 (sh171,000) per barrel this year and are expected to reach the $150 (sh256,500) mark in two years.

“The ever-increasing and erratic oil prices are driving many countries to search for alternatives of achieving energy independence. This has intensified research and boosted development of bio fuels as the most reliable energy alternative,” the production manager of Royal Van Zanten, a local flower farm, said.

Bas Van Lankveld said his farm had ventured into production of bio-diesel from Jatropha Carcus, commonly known as ‘ekiloowa,’ because it reduces engine consumption by 20%. Ekiloowa is commonly used as a support for vanilla vines and sometimes as a hedge.

The farm invested over $23,000 (sh39.3m) in importing the technology from Tanzania and an additional sh120m last year.

Jatropha, a drought- resistant perennial crop with a 50-year life span, is a member of the Europhobiaceace family. Its seeds contain over 35% non-edible oil.

Last year, the company produced 3,000 litres of oil from 9,000kgs of seeds collected from vanilla farmers in the districts of Mukono, Kayunga, Jinja, Iganga, Kamuli and Bugiri. It has also planted over 40 hectares (about 60,000 trees) of jatropha at their farm in Mukono.

“We have a tractor that has been running on the bio-diesel for the last three months. It uses between eight to 10 litres of bio-diesel daily for 20km,” Lankveld said.

One kilogramme of the seeds produces 200ml of oil. Every tree can bear one-and-ahalf kilogrammes of seeds annually.

The global bio-diesel market is estimated to reach 37 billion gallons by 2016, growing at an average annual rate of 42%.

Lankveld said developing bio-fuels offers the most immediate and viable response to emerging economies in the Tropics to produce and supply the global energy market and reduce carbondioxide emissions as part of the battle against climate change.

“We choose jatropha carcus for our bio-diesel project because it can be inter-cropped with other food crops. The production of bio-fuels offers new growth opportunities to peasants in developing countries. However, steps must be taken to ensure its production does not impair food security for the poor,” Lankveld said.

In Europe, the emerging industry (bio-fuels) has been held responsible for the lack of feed stock supplies and the rising crude palm oil /soya oil prices.

There is also a debate of crops for food versus fuel production and the need for initiatives in crop cultivation technologies and competitive sourcing of appropriate feedstock to alter the bio-fuel economics.

He added that the urgency to turn food crops like soya, maize, wheat, sugar and palm oil into fuel for cars and industrial use without first examining the impact on global hunger would be a recipe for disaster.

Some of the effects of turning food crops into energy sources include; increasing food prices, increasing competition for land and forests, forced evictions, effects on employment and conditions of work, and increasing prices and scarcity of water.

The UN special rapporteur on the right to food recently recommended jatropha as a bio-fuels crop for developing countries.

Jatropha was recommended because of its high oil content, gestation period and ability to grow on degraded soils.

There is need for developing countries to invest in bio-fuels production because with climate change, the world’s energy polices are bound to change for the worst.

Uganda can excel in bio- diesel production since the majority of the people derive their incomes from agriculture. jatropha offers enormous potential to alleviate poverty. A farmer can earn up to $250 (sh427,500) annually from a 1km hedge of jatropha.