Jatropha project still at experimental stage: Govt

By The NewsDay | May. 9, 2013 | 2 Min read

ZIMBABWE’S Jatropha biodiesel project remains in limbo amid indications that the government is still carrying out tests to assess the viability of the project five years since a plant was commissioned.

Report by Victoria Mtomba

In an apparent U-turn, Science and Technology minister Heneri Dzinotyiwei said government had no immediate plans to produce fuel from the jatropha plant on a commercial scale. He added that there has been misconception on the production of Jatropha fuel on a commercial scale.

Dzinotyiwei said nowhere in the world is Jatropha produced at a large scale.

“I cannot quantify the output from Mutoko as it is for experimental purposes. But the vehicles at the plant use bio-diesel from Jatropha as fuel. We had misconceptions when the project was launched there is nowhere in the world where Jatropha is produced for commercial purposes,” he said.

Dzinotyiwei said there was need to allocate more land to the project for the production of soya beans.

“We are not producing significantly may be we have not come up with a dedicated project to grow the relevant crops,” he said.

Dzinotyiwei said the plant in Mt Hampden that is owned by the central bank and private players was being maintained as oil that is required for the plant to be up and running was not available.

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“They are supposed to produce bio diesel, but they need oil from soya bean. They cannot get sufficient amount of oil. They are more or less maintaining it. If we had oil from Jatropha, that plant is a perfect plant, it’s just that the feed stock is in short supply,” he said.

He said the country has enormous opportunities for bio-fuels and he cited the ethanol project which he said was a well proven project commercially.

Dzinotyiwei said the ethanol project problems have nothing to do with scientific merits, but business merits.