Jatropha farmers can earn Rs 2,800 per ha from carbon trading

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New Delhi (PTI): The cultivation of jatropha, a bio-fuel plant, holds immense potential for farmers as they can earn Rs 2,800 per hectare by trading in carbon credits, a scheme to mitigate global warming, industry chamber FICCI has said.

The income from trading in carbon credits, in combination with the sale of jatropha seeds, makes such cultivation highly lucrative for wasteland tracks of India, it said.

“The income from carbon trading itself would give an average return of Rs 2,800 per hectare from the fifth year of plantation,” the chamber said.

A farmer, by cultivating jatropha in 5,000 hectares of wasteland, can earn Rs 92.5 lakh from the third year of plantation and the income would increase to Rs 11.55 crore in five years, the study said.

Besides other things, the income assumption is based on carbon credits for plantation and 30 per cent oil yield from jatropha seeds.

Land of 20-25 million hectares has been classified as cultivable wasteland. In well-managed plantations, the yield from jatropha would be close to 2.5 tonnes per hectare while oil content varies between 28 per cent and 38 per cent, it said.