Farm machinery group backs jatropha project

A MAJOR agriculture farm machinery, equipment and supplies company in the country has thrown its support behind the emerging jatropha bio­fuel farming promoted by Thompson Benguma, a bio-fuel engineer.
Farmset Ltd’s Lae branch manager David Norman said the potential of jatropha was immense and there was a need to support the biofuel industry.
He said finding alternative to fossil fuel was a pressing issue all over the globe and the time to start is now if Papua New Guinea was serious about addressing the need for energy security and climate change mitigation in the country.
Norman said Farmset was ready to assist jatropha growers with farm machinery and supplies.
He said his people at Umi in the Umi Atzera LLG in the Markham Electorate had already started growing jatropha and would work closely with Benguma to realise the potential of this hedge plant that had become a huge money earner for rural based communities all over the world.
Norman said his people had already allocated 10ha of land to Benguma to establish a nucleus jatropha estate and erect a jatropha biodiesel processing plant to supply fuel to trucking companies, private motor vehicle (PMV) owners and individuals.
Norman said his people had discussed the possibility of a village electrification project with Benguma and hope to begin the project as soon as all the people started growing one hectare of jatropha.
Benguma told villagers that as soon as they started harvesting their crops, equipment for their anticipated village electrification would be supplied.
Benguma said all that the people needed was a power generator fuelled by jatropha oil, an oil expeller and a filter press.
The people only needed to contribute a bag of jatropha seed each month in exchange for electricity supply to their houses.
Norman who also came from Markham Valley had called on his people not to introduce oil palm into the Markham Plains as it was very damaging to the soil and would make landowners become marginalised.
He said the people must grow jatropha and intercrop it with rice, watermelon and other food crops that would meet their food security needs, while at the same time providing a source of income.