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.