Guiding the Largest Jatropha Plantation in the World: A Case in Myanmar

Start as the National Project

The government of Myanmar considers Jatropha as the gift from the God, and guiding the citizens of Myanmar to plant it since 2004. This plantation activity is processed as the national project which is aiming to achieve a total of 2 million ha of plantation by 2008, and 4 million ha by 2010. And, JBEDC is largely involved in the start of this national project.

Dr. Kobayashi, the President of JBEDC, has been invited to Myanmar as the advisor on the national development policy since 1992, and has conducted planning, processing, and conducting of 10 projects since then. In 2006, Dr. Kobayashi had a detail meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Energy about the national Jatropha plantation project since he had experiences of Jatropha plantation in Africa and Asia by then. Based on the discussion, it came clear that the government of Myanmar does not fully understand the correct way of cultivating, harvesting, oil pressing, and utilizing Jatropha. Therefore, JDI/JBEDC, which has experiences in five countries for Jatropha cultivation by then, signed a MOU to support the Jatropha development project of Myanmar.

The 1st Jatropha Research : October, 2006

In this research JDI/JBEDC verified the current situation of Jatropha plantation. The research team first checked the plantation sites around the country, then visited the experimental plantation site and oil press plant managed by the affiliated organization of the Ministry of Agriculture, and exchanged opinions.

[Jatropha Plantation Site in Myanmar]

[Meetings with Related Agencies]

Jatropha Seminar：February, 2007

In order to spread the correct Jatropha cultivation skill, JDI/JBEDC gathered about 50 people related to Jatropha plantation, and introduced the Jatropha Manual created by JDI. This manual was translated into Burmese, and handed out to farmers.

The 2nd Jatropha Research：February, 2007

During the second research, the research team from JDI/JBEDC verified that about 3.2 million ha of the 4 million ha goal of Jatropha plantation was already achieved. Because the plantation has been conducting for 3years, some trees were already bearing fruits, at the same time some trees are planted on the land not suitable for Jatropha cultivation or some trees were not treated well. However, still one can predict that about 1/3 of the already planted Jatropha farm (which is 1 million ha) are bearing fruits. Even though only 1 ton per ha per year of fruits are beard (this is the smallest predictable amount), the total of 1 million ha plantation would yield 1 million ton of Jatropha fruits. This means that Myanmar is the largest Jatropha production country in the world.

Future Plan

Based on the MOU signed in 2007, JBEDC is planning to continuously support the construction of Jatropha supply chain. Once the aftermath of the riot in 2007, and the cyclone in 2008 settles, we are planning to establish a Jatropha center which serves as both the promotion center and Jatropha seeds buying place.

[Pressing Jatropha Oil]

[Harvested Jatropha Seeds]