Joseph Ngunjiri, 20 July 2008
Nairobi — When Isaac Kalua founded the Green Africa Foundation in 2000, one of his objectives was to get Kenyans to take care of trees and plant more.
Coming from Kitui, which is largely semi-arid, Kalua hoped his people would embrace his message. He reckoned that if they planted more trees and protected the existing ones it would make the climate there less hostile, and even increase the amount of rainfall in the area.
But, being poor, the people relied on wood fuel for their energy needs. And to get firewood, they had to cut down the existing trees. The felling of trees undermined his goal of increasing forest cover.
Replace trees
"What is worse, the people were not making any efforts to replace the trees they were cutting down," he says. "People I talked to assured me that if they got an alternative source of fuel, they would have no reason to cut down trees."
In their search of firewood, the people did not discriminate in the trees they cut. Some indigenous trees with immense cultural and even medicinal value were cut down. "Every time I went to my rural home and encountered people transporting charcoal, I grew increasingly frustrated, knowing that more trees had been cut."
Still, he had conflicting emotions. As much as he cared for the environment, he also appreciated that the people could not afford other sources of energy. He was mulling over this when, on a trip to Japan, he visited the environmental department of Hiroshima University.
He had heard of a research the university had done in environmental conservation. He met Prof Kaneyuki Nakane from the Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences who handed him some rough-looking seeds.
"Those seeds, he told me, were the solution to the problems encountered by my people, and indeed the whole country," he recalls. They were Jatropha Curcas seeds.
He learnt that the tree can withstand extreme climatic conditions and therefore can do well in arid and semi-arid areas. Secondly and most important, the tree has so many uses, and could well be the answer to the country's energy problems.
Seeds from the Jatropha produce oil, an important source of bio-fuel. As the global oil prices shoot through the roof, there have been frantic efforts at seeking alternative sources of energy, especially renewable ones.
Jatropha has been identified as an important source of renewable energy. Apart from the fact that it does well in dry conditions, it also has an edge over other renewable sources of energy.
In the recent past, concerns have been raised over how the search for alternative fuels, especially ethanol from corn, wheat, soya and other staples, is undermining food security globally.
Jatropha does not compete with food crops. Jatropha, being a legume, fixes nitrogen into the soil, increasing productivity. This makes inter-cropping easy with Jatropha.
From Japan, Kalua began research and learnt that the tree already grew in several parts of Kenya, but the people were barely aware of its huge potential.
"In parts of Meru, Jatropha is widely used as a hedge, as it is capable of keeping away wild animals, including elephants, that are destructive to crops," he says.
Through the Green Africa Foundation, Kalua set out to educate people on the importance of planting the tree. He told them that the oil from the seed could replace firewood as a source of fuel.
Bio-diesel production
"This is in addition to the seeds they would in future sell for purposes of bio-diesel production," he adds. Due to its green, leafy nature, Kalua says farmers feared that domestic animals would eat it but goats, the most destructive of domestic animals, could not touch Jatropha, because of the smell it emits.
On realising the vast potential of Jatropha, Green Africa has doubled its efforts in ensuring the tree is grown not only in Kenya but in the whole of Africa.
"Seeing as only about 16 per cent of Kenya's land mass is considered favourable to agricultural, there is limitless potential for the production of bio-diesel, through Jatropha," he says. He adds that if Kenya can produce enough bio-diesel to meet its energy needs, then the country could drastically reduce its dependability on fossil fuels, which it does not have.
Energy experts say Jatropha oil is an environmentally safe, cheap, and renewable source of non-conventional energy. The plant is already a commercial source of bio-diesel in Canada, United States, Thailand, Brazil and India.
Kenya stands to save a lot in terms of foreign exchange should it cut its fossil fuel costs.
According to the Energy ministry, Kenya's oil import bill stood at Sh98 billion in 2006, and keeps rising. An average Jatropha tree matures in eight months and is capable of producing fruits twice a year. A single tree produces about 4kg of seed per harvest.
At a workshop to present the National Bio-diesel Strategy in March, Energy PS Mr Patrick Nyoike said that one hectare of Jatropha would yield 1.1 tonnes of bio-diesel per year in medium potential areas like Ukambani.
The foundation signed an agreement with the Chemistry Department of the University of Nairobi in March for research and development of a bio-diesel extraction unit. This led to the formation of the Jatropha unit headed by Prof Lydia Njenga.
When the Sunday Nation visited Kalua's farm in Kitui, Prof Njenga was also there on a fact-finding mission. She said that the university has set aside some land in Kibwezi, where they have a dry land farming unit, for pilot production of Jatropha.
Lifestyles of people
"This tree has the potential of improving the lifestyles of people, particularly in the arid lands," she said.
Kalua is the interim chairperson of the Kenya Bio-Diesel Association, formed under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy to work out a framework for production and marketing of Jatropha seeds, including the processing of bio-diesel.
Green Africa Foundation is working with more than 500 farmers from Kitui, Thika, Machakos, Namanga, Kajiado, Nakuru, Marakwet, Meru and the Coast, whom it has helped to establish standard nurseries of Jatropha.
Green Africa foundation has been funded from Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation to initiate Jatropha production as a bio-diesel source, covering all stages and activities involved in making the technology sustainable and commercially viable.