Jatropha and Karanja cultivation programs announced in India

The state government of Orissa, in eastern India, annoucned a series of biofuels incentives aimed at promoting cultivation of jatropha and karanja. Jatropha has been receiveing a great deal of attention of late globally as a hardy perennial the produces prdigious quanitites of oil. Kanaja is less well known, but also grows throughout India and is used extensively in herbal medicine. The state initiative is centered around the conversion of 600,000 hectares of barren or fallow land in Orissa state. The land proposals are certain to attract a degree of controversy in India due to the sheer size of the project. With jatropha yields hovering at 350 gallons of biodiesel per hectare, the project has the promise of providing as much as 460 million gallons of biodiesel, equivalent to 20% of current US biodiesel consumption.

The state administrators have said that up to 20 million hectares of under-utilized land is available in Orissa for biofuel feedstock development.

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