by Carl Bielenberg

ATI Senegal and its parent organization, A. T. International, have began promoting jatropha curcas planting in Senegal with technical support from Carl Bielenberg and bis Better World Workshop. These efforts are inspired by the early research conducted by the Special Energy Project in Mali, with which Mr. Bielemberg became familiar in 1991. ATI Senegal has distinguished itself with the successfuel promotion of the « Diambar » fuel efficient charcoal stove, based upon the Kenyan Jiko design, and treadle irrigation pumps. Promoting jatropha is an important part of its efforts to promote sustainable rural development, and is tied to commercial dissemination of small scale technology for village oil extraction, and the promotion of sesame as an edible oilseed crop.

ATI Senegal’s strategy for the promotion of jatropha is somewhat different from that employed in Mali due to differing factors in the two countries. First, ATI Senegal must initially play a more active role in the multiplication of jatropha trees. Jatropha hedges were largely replaced in Senegal more than twenty years ago by two other euphorbias, known locally as celane and celane toubab (latin names?). These were promoted by the agriculture extension service because they are very dense growing, and therefore make an even more effective barrier to wind and livestock than jatroha curcas. Farmers are familiar with jatropha and fondly remember its utilisation for village soapmaking and as a topical antiseptic. In the three villages where ATI is working, a few farners have begun the difficult task of replacing their celane, which has a caustic latex that burns the eyes, with jatropha hedges. Others anticipate planting new hedges or plantations of jatropha. Fortunately, enough jatropha trees still exist to provide planting seed, and germination rates are very high. Only a few villages in the part of Senegal north of the Gambia have enough jatropha to use cuttings as their principal method of multiplication.

Another factor which distinguishes the two countries is the desperate need in Senegal’s villages for edible oil. Unlike Mali, Senegal has few shea nut trees. Groundnut production has fallen. In recent years, first due to drought, and secondly due to privatization of the groundnut parastatal. Groundnut seed is not longer subsidized, and there are few farmers who can afford to buy seed at the going price, more than 300 CFA per kilogram. ATI Senegal will attempt to encourage farmern to plant jathopha by winning their confidence with the introduction of sesame. Sesame requiresfar less seed than groundnuts, typical 5 kilograms per hectare, and can be harvested after the groundnut/millet harvests. The red sesame grown by farmers in Gambia and southern Senegal is larger than the white export variety and has a very high oil content. This seed is easily pressed with the manual ram press, the same technology that will be promoted for jatropha processing. The main jatropha harvest is in August and September, while sesame is harvested in December, so the principal processing periods for the two crops do not coincide.

ATI Senegal will initially introduce the ram press for jatropha and sesame oil extraction because it is a low cost locally manufactur technology, that can be used by individual farmers or small village groups to provide fuel and edible oils for their own needs, or for income generation at a small, easily manageable scale. The ram press can process about ten kilograms of jatropha, or fifteen kilograms of sesame per hour, producing about two liters of jatropha oil, and up to four litres of sesame oil, from ten kilograms of seed. Ram presses can be built in Senegal by small workshops for roughly 100,000 cfa, and should sell for about 150,000 cfa to cover distribut costs and profit to encourage commercial sales.

ATI Senegal will demonstrate the production and use of jatropha oil in four villages around Thies, Senegal, during 1996 and 1997. Hand presses and engine retrofit kits to fuel grain mills in these villages will be provided on loan to a total of four group and privat mill owners, at a cost of about 250,000 cfa each. Each village is expected to plant and maintain 10,000 jatropha seedlings in the first year. These seedlings are currently being produced in the villages with some project subsidy. The villages will also receive one or two bags of red sesame planting seed. ATI Senegal will furnish agronomic, engineering, and socioeconomic assistance and monitoring to the villages in order to enhance their chances of sucess. A female extensionist will ensure that women as well as men benefit from the project activities, and will train women in jatropha soap production, as well as engine and press management and maintenance. These activities will be partially funded with a $52,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

Technical and management assistance to ATI Senegal are provided by The Better World Workshop and A. T. International. The Better World Workshop has been conducting endurance tests on jatropha fuels diesel engines, and is testing a low cost locally manufacturable motorized expeller, as well as the manual press described above. A. T. International has promoted appropriate technologies worldwide since the late 1970’s, and initiated ATI Senegal’s very successful programs in fuel efficient stoves and human powered irrigation.

We believe there is tremendous scope for producing jatropha curcas and other liquid fuels from perennial plants in Senegal and across the Sahel. These efforts will eventually involve large irrigated plantations and transesterification plants, as well as hedgerow harvesting and village scale processing. Small scale processing, using hand presses and small motororized expellers, is the foundation for growth in plant oil fuel use without which the larger scale technologies with their higher costs, management complexities, and dependency on adequate and reliable seed supply, will inevitably fail.