California-based SG Biofuels announced it has partnered with the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) for a jatropha community-farming initiative in Guatemala.

The pilot project will evaluate the use of RSB sustainability standards applied against a 600ha jatropha community-farming model established by the US company. The project includes more than 380 farmers in 25 communities.

Farmers receive free seedlings and monthly technical training from SG Biofuels which will purchase 100% of production. Plantations, which started in 2009 with initial harvests expected by this summer, were established without displacing food crops and on land considered marginalized and unsuitable for food crops.

Apart from Guatemala, which is home to SG Biofuels’ genetic resource center, the company is also doing work in other major markets such as Brazil, Colombia, Honduras and Mexico, company CEO Kirk Haney told BNamericas.

In Colombia alone there are 7.2Mha available to plant biofuel feedstock with no impact on food supply, said Haney. Of this land area, about 6Mha could not be planted with traditional crops like sugarcane and palm, which would leave jatropha, he added.

The entire interview with Haney will be published in this week’s Oil & Gas Perspectives, for subscribers only.

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