In the first picture, Mr. Nanda, one of our farmer leaders of Rathnapuri colony, Hunsur Taluk is irrigating his pulse crop by using Jatropha biodiesel for his pump set.In the second picture he is using biodiesel to run his 5 HP diesel pump set to lift water to irrigate his field
Mr.Palani swamy of Coiamauthur colony is using Jatropha biodiesel to run his 5 HP diesel pump set to lift water to irrigate his Arecanut garden.
Dear Friends,We start off 2011 with a great news flash. To refresh your memory, during the summer of 2010 Adarsha and I had purchased dried jatropha seeds from our farmers and transported it to Labland Biotechs for oil extraction and biodiesel production. In Labland Biotechs 30+ liters of pure biodiesel was produced using the seeds and given to the farmer leaders in two participating villages for testing. Under the leadership of Mr. Rajegowda and the rest of the Parivarthana staff, the test runs were performed very successfully. K.R.Nagar college students, Parivarthana field staff and retired bus conductor of KSRTC witnessed the test runs on the 23rd December 2011.
The results are encouraging. In the farmers own words, "i) emission of smoke is less and it has light pungent smell ii) engine runs very smoothly and iii) efficiency of the engine is good and it pulls water is very well." While demonstrating, the jatropha fuel was not mixed with diesel. The other farmers who witnessed the demonstration were very impressed with the results and are approaching Mr. Rajegowda, Director of Parivarthana to know the source of the fuel so that they can buy. In their own words "Where can we get this fuel??"
Looking back, two years ago, if some one had told me that we would reach this level in the project, I would not have believed. We are very happy that the farmers are getting a first hand experience in the biofuel usage. They can be the judge now. It is all up to them to decide if this is a viable option.
Happy 2011 to all the blog followers from Project Jatropha Team!
~Apoorva
Posts
Apoorva,
ReplyDeleteI have got to admit, this is some impressive work! I saw Lilian's exciting news while reading your blog the other day. Congratulations to her! What is Supreme Overlord's success story? Actually I was tempted to ask but my kids say it is classified information and I just should not be asking about it. It will be a "Typical Asian Thing" to do. That is according to my kids!!
Either way, good luck to all the three of you.
My question next is: now that you have shown by demonstrating that this is a viable option, do you think farmers will be willing to switch to this? According to you, is this sustainable Supreme overlord??
Blessings,
Subbanna
Dear Mr Subbanna :
ReplyDeleteProject Jatropha's primary goal is to demonstrate to the farmers that jatropha oil & biodiesel fro it are for real. But, however noble the concept may be. unless it makes economic sense to the farmers, they will not adopt it. Economic sustainability is far more complex issue than a demonstration project; it depends on entire agronomic perspective and the prevailing price of diesel in general etc. Only time will tell but we are hopeful that eventually it will become feasible as the fossil fuel prices climb.
Sincerely,
Adarsha