Jatropha Alliance responds to critique of Mozambique jatropha industry

In Mozambique, the Jatropha Alliance is responding to criticism of jatropha plantation made by a Swiss Aid study of jatropha biofuels.

The Alliance said “Swiss Aid recently published a very negative and one-sided study “Jatropha! A socio-econmomic pitfall for Mozambique” prepared by Justiça Ambiental (JA) and União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC). Besides lacking scientific scrutiny, the study critizes claims that had never been made by serious actors within the Jatropha sector. The study also highlights inaccurate arguments reflecting only potentially critical aspects of Jatropha. The picture shown on Jatropha in Mozambique in this study is not complete and the study is in our view false in its general conclusions.”

Meanwhile, the Alliance said that its project  “Towards Sustainability Certification of Jatropha Biofuels in Mozambique” has been approved by the Global Sustainable Biomass Fund of the Dutch development agency Senter Novem.

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