"Jatropha" (ja-tro-fa) is the plant called the "Biodiesel Tree"

"Pepinyè" (pep-in-yeh) means "Nursery" in Haitian creole

JATROPHA PEPINYÈ is a nonprofit Haitian business that grows and sells transplant seedlings of Jatropha curcas for renewable energy, rural economic development, and the re-vegetation of devastated landscapes. The nursery is located in Terrier Rouge in northeastern Haiti on the newly improved Route Nationale.

The development of biodiesel is at an early stage in Haiti, but its tipping point has been reached and there is widespread support in the public, private, and international aid sectors. The basis of this emerging industry is a plant indigenous to Haiti, called Jatropha curcas. Its seeds produce high yields of oil, which can be used directly to run simple engines or refined into bio-diesel, which can be blended with petroleum and used in all diesel engines without modification.

Jatropha can be a cash crop for thousands of unused hectares in Haiti, which are too poor to grow food, because it thrives on dry marginal land. With value-added products made from its oil, Jatropha can play an important role in integrated economic development and poverty reduction by providing income for families, new businesses for towns and regions, and renewable energy for Haiti.

• JP grows the highest quality Jatropha tree seedlings ready ship anywhere in Haiti to transplant into farmers' fields.
• JP gives Haiti's farmers the technical support they need to achieve productive yields. Haitian agronomists, who are backed up by the latest research, provide technical assistance.
• JP encourages integrated economic development at the local level by showing how to make marketable products from Jatropha, including pure plant oil for stoves and lamps, biodiesel for engines, and soap.
• JP works with farmers associations and cooperatives to explain Jatropha production in a balanced way, discussing requirements, returns and risks.
• JP works cooperatively throughout Haiti to develop green energy, re-vegetate devastated watersheds and conduct Jatropha research.
• JP helps poor farmers find the financial support they need to get started by connecting them to individual and corporate sponsors. If you are an individual or company who wants to help, consider sponsoring a farmer to grow Jatropha, reduce rural poverty, and give Haiti renewable energy.
• JP is managed and operated by Haitians and provides local employment and vocational training.
• JP is a nonprofit humanitarian business enterprise administered by Partner for People and Place, a US nonprofit 501( c)3 organization, and Esperance et Vie, a Haitian NGO.

Sponsor A Farmer

Be part of a GREEN solution to poverty. Join hands with peasant farmers. You buy the trees and they do the farming - growing Biodiesel for Haiti and earning a decent income to live on.

1-HECTARE GROVE OF JATROPHA = $1250

1-ACRE GROVE OF JATROPHA = $500

1 SHARE = $50

Send a check to:
Partner for People and Place
330 Research Drive A-210
Athens, Georgia 30605, USA

or visit our Contribute Page

Donations are Tax Deductible in the U.S.

Jatropha (Jatropha Curcas) is a small tree about the size of a citrus tree, which is native to Haiti and produces non-edible seed oil. While largely unnoticed in Haiti today, its seeds are a high yield source of liquid bio-fuel.

Jatropha Facts

• Easily cultivated without irrigation or fertilization.
• Grows on marginal land too dry or poor for food crops.
• Adaptable to a range of rainfall and elevations.
• Adapted to grow in difficult places including arid mountain slopes
• Inedible by goats and grazing animals.
• Pest and disease resistant.
• Best planted in the field as 3-month old seedlings.
• Reaches full seed production within 3 years
• Produces for 40-50 years.
• Easily harvested by hand labor.
• 2500 trees per hectare (2.5 acres) when planted like a citrus grove.
• Oil yield of more than 1500 kilos (3300 pounds) per hectare, which is 4
• times more than soybean.
• Jatropha plantations can represent carbon credits.
• Jatropha can revegetate and stabilize denuded hillsides.

Jatropha oil squeezed from the seeds can be used directly in cooking stoves, lamps, and simple diesel engines. It can also be used to make soap, and the "seed cake" remaining after pressing the seeds can be used as a high nitrogen fertilizer. Jatropha oil can provide very good value-added returns to local farmers and small businesses.

With a simple process, Jatropha seed oil can be made into Biodiesel, which can be blended with petroleum and used in all diesel engines without modification. Since Haiti uses twice as much diesel as gasoline for both transportation and electricity production, this renewable fuel can make a huge difference in Haiti's energy supply.