Prospects of energy self-sufficiency in tea industry

BANGLADESH is a fast developing country and considered to be one of the few countries that have the fastest rate of economic growth, which will lead to its attaining the status of a "middle income" nation within the next decade. Hence, the energy needs have to be not only sustained but also greatly enhanced.

The expenditure of foreign currency for the import of fossil fuel is a big drain on our financial resources. Increasing global demand for fossil based fuel worldwide and the depletion of global crude oil reserves continue to cause inflated oil prices. The global use of fossil based oil is causing drastic environmental damage, which will have serious impact on countries like Bangladesh.

Although Bangladesh is blessed with natural gas reserves, they are depleting rapidly. This is creating havoc in the power and energy sector as generation of electricity is curtailed, causing serious problems in the industrial and domestic sectors. With advancement in the agricultural sector through use of vehicles and machineries, the demand for diesel has also increased drastically.

On average, Bangladesh imports about 3.9 million tons of petrochemicals yearly, of which diesel accounts for 2.3 million tons costing around $570 million. The Bangladesh tea industry consumes about 0.14% of this volume, which is approximately 3,220 tons.

Policy makers and researchers in many countries have been looking for alternatives to fossil oil, and bio-fuel is one of the promising options. Compared to other bio-fuels, "Jatropha Curcas" is identified as a good source of bio-diesel. Jatropha can be grown from both stems and seeds. Jatropha oil not only has potential as a substitute for fossil diesel, extraction of diesel from Jatropha seeds is also reasonably simple and economical.

Bangladesh tea industry currently produces 56-60 million kgs of tea per year and consumes 3,200 tons of diesel at an import cost of Tk.120 million, which means Tk. 2.14/kg of the production costs, whereas these costs could be potentially reduced to Tk. 1.00/kg thereby making a potential savings of Tk1.14/kg overall. This means a saving of Tk.63.84 million, with consequent favourable impact on prices for the buyers.

A recent study indicates that tea estate management support exploration of the possibility in view of the potential reduction of production costs, utilisation of fallow land, employment of unemployed labour force, improvement of environment and, considering national interest, they would venture to cultivate Jatropha in tea estates.

Both primary and secondary data show that there is approximately 8,600 hectares (ha) of land available for Jatropha cultivation in the tea estates in Bangladesh. Aside from the fallow land/inhospitable land within the tea estates there are sectional roads crisscrossing the tea estates, which means that around 1,900 ha could be brought under Jatropha cultivation -- thereby increasing the total area to 10,500 ha. Based on these resources, estimated average production would be in the region of 52,500 tons of Jatropha seeds, which will produce approximately 15,800 tons of bio-diesel against the requirement of 3, 200 tons per year at the current rate of consumption. This will leave a surplus of 12,600 tons, which may be put into the national marketing chain and preferably dedicated totally for the farmers -- this would reduce transportation costs and risks also, thereby benefitting the agriculture sector.

Due to the potential demand within the tea industry and the available land along with the favourable weather conditions, the cultivation of Jatropha appears to be a very viable proposition. It may be noted that Jatropha cultivation is suitable even in lands which are unsuitable for tea, are less productive and where no irrigation facilities are available. Thus, the Jatropha cropping will not replace other important food crops and in turn will not have any major impact on cropping patterns within the tea estates or on their major product -- tea.

The economic life of a Jatropha tree is 35-40 years and the plant survives for up to 50 years if the root zone does not come in contact with underground water table. Under Bangladesh weather conditions the first yield trial was carried out at the BAU farm and the available data indicates that Jatropha contains 25% to 37% oil content. Based on this data the production of Jatropha bio-diesel will be in the region of 1600-1800 litres per ha per year. The bi-product/residue after the diesel extraction remains as oil cakes, which are an excellent source of plant nutrients. Moreover, there are other extracts (seed cakes and glycerin) that are produced during the processing of the diesel oil. These extra revenue sources reduce the basic cost of production and raise the financial viability of Jatropha cultivation. Incidentally, traditional and locally made expellers can be used to extract the diesel from Jatropha seeds.

The geographical position of the tea estates, the availability of unused land, manpower, infrastructure and the willingness of the tea estate owners to cultivate Jatropha demonstrates that not only is energy self-sufficiency in the tea industry through Jatropha plantation a viable proposition, but also that it is a way to reduce the government's import bills for diesel and thus save foreign currency.

The writer is Doctoral Research Fellow at Dalian University of Technology, China. Email: [email protected]