Policy brief jatropha production in Manica

Almeida Sitoe The study carried out in Manica province focused on jatropha production for biofuels production. The study was carried out by a team of 19 students of the Eduardo Mondlane University as part of the exercise in Agricultural Development and as input for the provincial government in relation to the subject of jatropha production. The study has the following specific objectives: (i) evaluate the opportunities and constrains for jatropha production for biofuels in Manica, (ii) evaluate the social and environmental interactions of the production of jatropha, (iii) evaluate the interactions between food production and biofuels, (iv) evaluate the agronomic aspects of jatropha production based on the existing plantations, (v) evaluate the perceptions of the key stakeholders in the public, private, household sector and the civil society regarding the production of jatropha, (vi) evaluate the technical and economic efficiency of the jatropha production. The study relied on literature review from sources around the world for the generic information of the jatropha as a plant and as a crop. Direct observations and contacts with stakeholders in Manica were used to get the performance and the interactions of the crop within the context of Manica. The study concentrated in the districts along the Beira Corridor of the Manica province: Manica, Gondola, and Sussundenga. The statistics of the province suggest that these are the districts where most of the plantations are located. In addition, a visit was carried to the district of Gorongosa, Sofala, where well developed experiences of national reference are established. Agronomic Literature has been constantly referring to jatropha as a plant that grows in poor, marginal soils, and resistant to pests and diseases> While this may be true if we refer to jatropha as a plant in the wild, the same may not be true for jatropha as a crop, which is required to perform well and provide economically viable yield. The observations in Manica included smallholder farms (less that 1 ha) and larger commercial farms (up to 5 ha). All of these are still in experimental phase to observe the agronomic characteristics of the crop. Within these experiments, we found that (i) seeds came from a large variety of sources including Gorongosa experimental site, Malawi, India, Guatemala, but also local sources from isolated trees normally planted in homesteads. None of the seed sources seemed to be certified or tested, resulting in a wide variety of phenotypes. (ii) smallholder farms did not apply any inputs and dedicated little effort on agronomic treatments (no pest and disease control, no fertilization, no irrigation, no weeding, no fire control, etc.). The plantations were set as part of the Agricultural Service to introduce the crop in rural communities. The lack of care was based on the belief that the crop is resistant, grows in poor conditions, and does not need any care. The plantations in this setting had smaller, leafless plants (compared to plants of the similar age), high infestation by insects, mainly golden flea beetle, and leaf miners. One of the plantations was severely damaged by fire. (iii) plants in the private sector included controlled experiments where irrigation, fertilization. Overall agronomic care included pest control

(application of cypermitrine, karat, and organic pesticides), and weeding (clearing the weeds in all area or just around the plants). Plants in general were healthier, but those with fertilization (chicken manure, NPK), performed better and those that included irrigation were even better. Although not conclusive, these observations suggest that jatropha has more requirements that it used to be believed in terms of soil nutrients, water, and disease control. (iv) In all the cases, plantations were about 1-2 years, therefore no production of fruit was evaluated. However, as common trend, plants with better performance (fertilized, weeded, irrigated) started flowering and the production of fruits is at the initial stage, in opposition to the plantations without treatment, which hardly survived and showed little or no flowering. (v) Some of the plantations were pruned as a means to stimulate branching. However, observations suggest that reaction to pruning may vary depending on the season of application, pruning height, and eventually other variables. (vi). To facilitate the promotion of jatropha as a crop, the Agricultural Service uses a compilation of internet information as the base for technical assistance. However, the resulting leaflet focuses the aspects of plant establishment such as seed treatment and germination, nursery procedures, planting spacing. Almost no information is provided for pest and disease control, irrigation, fertilization, or pruning. (vii) Jatropha seems to be a crop highly susceptible to fire and therefore, care should be taken to protect plantations from wild fire. Institutional perceptions Local institutions have different perceptions of the jatropha as a crop. (i) While the Agricultural Service is promoting jatropha plantations in smallholder farms in all the districts, they do not have the technological package of the crop, nor have budget to assist jatropha growers throughout the province. The Agricultural Extension Service is therefore overloaded with the responsibility to provide information to the growers in their routine activities for other crops. (ii) There is no clear strategy on jatropha production in the province and the nation. The value chain is not existent, the crop is not known, and there are no incentives for jatropha production. Therefore, stakeholders such as the NGOs and microfinance institutions that normally assist in agricultural development are skeptical as there is high uncertainty in the business. (iii) The way jatropha has been promoted, whith a high political campaign, may raise false expectations, as people tend to think that jatropha is a miracle solution for agricultural development. Even though, the private sector (commercial farmers) and NGO are willing to engage in jatropha production and promotion if the value chain and production strategy are put in place. (iv) There is no formal research research being carried out by research institutions on jatropha. The Agrarian Research Institution, Central Zone, located in Manica established a provenance trial, but did not maintain it for longer that one year and it is considered a lost experiment. Social impacts The area currently planted with jatropha is relatively small to cause perceivable social impacts. Therefore, the potential impacts considered are based on the perceptions of the main stakeholders, and the literature. (i) Land conflicts are the most important social impacts mentioned during the surveys. If jatropha is to be grown on a commercial basis, then large extensions of area will be required and the land conflicts will not be avoidable.

(ii) Food insecurity has also been extensively mentioned as an important social conflict. This conflict is seen as a result of a combination of food crop land reduction, labor diversion from food crop production to jatropha, and the likely low prices of jatropha compared to the food crops. (iii) Poisonous leaves, fruits, and seeds are the main concern for smallholder farmers who see this as a threat to the children and the livestock. Environmental There are interactions between social and environmental impacts. As the previous, environmental impacts are only a potential since there are little areas yet planted with jatropha. The main impacts, if jatropha is grown on large commercial scale, include (i) land use change and the potential conversion of natural ecosystems, which can result in loss of biodiversity. Manica has extensive land on favorable climate conditions that is not allocated and can eventually be used for jatropha; (ii) soil impoverishment as a result of nutrient extraction by jatropha, and (iii) soil toxicity associated with deposition of poisonous leaves. Economic aspects There are different aspects to consider from the economic point of view between the private sector and the smallholder farmers. (i) For smallholder farmers, the main concern is regarding the plant establishment period of four years, which the crop needs to start production. The current condition of the farmers, does not allow them to support the establishment cost, which will not be recovered in the short term. (ii) Considering hypothetic, but likely prices, costs, and yield of jatropha, a commercial farm (at least 10,000 ha) would get returns in the 9th year. (iii) Comparing the opportunity cost of producing jatropha with other common crops in Manica, jatropha is among the least profitable crops per land unit. This aspect may not encourage farmers to use their land to produce jatropha, when other crops pay better. (iv) The lack of a market in the present, discourages farmers to invest in the crop. Conclusions 1. Based on the observations of Manica, jatropha as a crop requires irrigation at least during the first stages, it grows better in fertile soils (fertilizers can be applied), it is highly susceptible to pests and diseases, its requirements for pruning are not well understood, but seem to be affected by the season. 2. Farmers (small and commercial) do not have access to improved seeds, therefore, plantations are established from wild seed with unknown properties, which poses difficulties for the estimation of yields. 3. Small farmers plantations do not have technical assistance, based on the beliefs that jatropha grows in poor marginal soils and is resistant to pests and diseases. This message has been going through the Agricultural Extension Service, which does not have technical expertise on this crop.

4. There are different perceptions from the stakeholders in regard to jatropha. (i) The Agricultural Service has the responsibility to promote the crop in the province, but they do not have a strategy in terms of land use, interactions with food crops, food security, the environmental and economic impacts. This is in addition to the lack of technical knowledge. Therefore, preventing them from an agreed and common understanding in relation to the crop. (ii) Smallholder farmers established jatropha plantations following the district authorities mandate, but are skeptical in relation to the absence of markets and technical assistance. (iii) The NGOs are skeptical and suggest that the pro-jatropha campaign could distract people and create false expectations. However, they express their willingness to support the government if a clear strategy is designed for the establishment of the crop and the development of the value chain. (iv) The private sector, although without technical knowledge and without secure markets, they are engaged in experimentation of jatropha, testing different treatments with fertilization, irrigation, and pest and disease control. 5. The absence of mature plantations and an established market prevented us from performing a field based economic evaluation. However, based on literature information on jatropha yields and production costs adapted for Manica conditions, we found that to make it competitive as a bio-diesel source, at the 2008 fuel prices, jatropha would not compete with other crops (e.g. maize, cotton, tobacco, beans) commonly grown in Manica. 6. In absence of established large plantations, land conflicts, food security, social, and environmental impacts could not be assessed. However, the scenario of commercial production of jatropha was found to have implications on land allocation, land cover change and associated loss of ecological functions, and social and environmental impacts of producing a poisonous (to human and cattle), nutrient-demanding plant. Based on the conclusions above we recommend the following a) A strategy be developed for the domestication and promotion of jatropha as a commercial crop. The strategy should include agronomic research, the development of the value chain, grow schemes, and land allocation procedures to minimize negative environmental and social impacts. Existing plantations can be used to document the lessons learned so far. These lessons should be synthesized in a brochure to be distributed as ongoing technical information development. A financial mechanism should be in place to assist the promotion of the crop including the subsidies (may include non-financial incentives) for the jatropha growers in the private sector. Assess the working mechanisms developed for other commercial crops in Manica and other regions, such as cotton, tobacco, cashew nut, coconut, and others, and evaluate their applicability to the case of jatropha production.

b) c) d)