Jim Currie from the University of the Pacific (Left) and South Point Propagation owner Ted Seaman inspect Jatropha Curcas trees at site K-8.

As with any undertaking of this magnitude, this project has many goals, subgoals, and objectives; all of which must be met or overcome if the primary goal is to be reached or exceeded. Some of the goals and objectives discussed are already being worked on with significant progress and some are dependent upon other goals/objectives, and some we get to wait and watch what mother nature does.

We have already reached the first sub goal of the project which was: Will Jatropha curcas grow and fruit under neglect in various locations in the Kau District on the Big Island? To date we have located, measured, tagged, and cataloged more than 100 specimens.

Our second subgoal and one that must be overcome is: The listing of Jatropha curcas as an invasive species in Hawaii needs to be successfully challenged through scientific means through the scientific and academic communities in Hawaii and the U. S. of A.  Our preliminary findings suggested that it is not invasive on the Big Island and our research to date supports that fact.

Dr. William Steiner and Ted Seaman are currently collaborating on a paper on their findings that show Jatropha curcas is not an invasive species in Hawaii.


Jatropha curcas flowers-site K-11

When looking at the feasibility of growing a biofuel crop on a large scale in Hawaii, the land usage must be taken into consideration.

If the land is suitable for food crops is it justifiable to plant a fuel crop instead?

Will the farming practices require the removal of rain forest?

Will the density of the crop negatively affect the environment?
 
Does the crop itself pose possible environmental hazards?

Are there end user agreements that may inhibit the sale of a biofuel crop?
for example:
A recent agreement prohibits the use of biofuels from countries, areas, or regions where rain forests were razed to grow the biofuel crops in the new biofuel electricity generating plant scheduled to begin operation on Oahu in the near future. 

Much of the land available for farming Jatropha in Hawaii is course lava flow and sloped. The cost of leveling the land suitable enough for normal farming practices is prohibitive. Harvesting methods and practices of ripe Jatropha seeds becomes even more challenging when one considers the size of the seed and the economic requirement of farming land that is only rough graded. At this state of land preparation, 90% or more of the ripe Jatropha nuts would be lost in the cracks and pukas in the ground. So, a solution must be found that allows Jatropha to be grown and harvested on land that is minimally leveled. Several hypotheses have been proposed, one of which holds promise. Models have shown it to work well, however it still needs to be field tested on a large scale and exposed to the elements for a period of time.

The Big Island Fuel Crops Project is addressing the land use issue through the "Farming Systems" research. We intend to develop a "Farming System" for Jatropha curcas that will allow it to be grown on marginal lands that receive less than adequate rainfall profitably.

The "Farming Systems" research is addressing irrigation, weed control and harvesting issues individually and as a single system. The first models developed show great promise for use on marginal lands and possibly semi-graded lava flows. Once fully developed the "Farming System" will open up thousands of acres of currently unusable landson the Big Island for farming.