Hi all,

I am new on this list. I am Swiss and I work in many
countries as a consultant and business man.

I have always thought that large plantations
specifically for growing biofuel on cultivated land
are an exceptionally ill-advised investment given the
volatility of the energy market, even though I would
expect oil-prices to generally increase and that the
recent slump is only of a temporary nature. On a
time-scale of 20 years I expect diesel prices will
fluctuate. The price will bounce up and down but in a
general upward direction. So biofuel does make a lot
of sense per se. But not necesseraly large industrial
plantations.

The alternative is to aim for Jatropha or Pongamia
production within the prevailing farming systems of
villagers. Think of villagers producing their own fuel
for their own tractors and generator-sets, and at the
same time using these perennial plants for
rehabilitating degraded lands. And let's not forget
the edge effects in the hedges which have obvious
interactions with the livestock-management systems. Of
course that will usually mean lower yields per
surface, but the low inputs and overall systemic
effects would suggest that villagers will be able to
produce seeds at lower prices than plantations.

Question: Does anybody know of instances where this
has been explored and looked into in any detail?

Thanks
Ueli Scheuermeier