Faiza Tehseen

Turning the wastelands into biofuel-producing hubs can help not only decrease the climatic impacts but also overcome the energy crisis faced by the country.

This was stressed by Dr Riffat Tahira, Principal Scientific Officer and Programme Leader of the National Medicinal, Aromatic, and Herbs Programme of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC). Talking to WealthPK, she said, “A wasteland is an empty/desolate area with no life or growth signs. An area can be turned into a wasteland due to climatic conditions, unfavourable wind blowing, or toxicity in the soil. The toxicity can be caused by any natural reason or as a result of any human activity, including industrialisation or domestic sewage.” She said that unplanned urbanisation and industrial establishments caused wastelands. “Other than colonisation, there is no use of these lands. But, only the areas near the cities can be used for this purpose. Urbanisation is difficult in faraway areas like Sindh or Balochistan, as well as many areas in the southern Punjab, where there is water scarcity.

Farming of jojoba/jatropha-type crops there can make the lands beneficial for the country’s economy.” Riffat said that jojoba and jatropha are the ideal plants to farm in marginal or wastelands. “They both are important commercial crops. Other than biodiesel, their oils have a variety of other industrial uses, including lubricants, and pharmaceutical sectors. Both jojoba and jatropha need minimum water, but indeed, they need water until the roots grow mature and strong. Then, they need water in pretty low quantities.”  She said, “Jojoba is a desert plant. The typical habitat of jatropha is tropical and sub-tropical areas. It is well tolerant to severe weather conditions and easily survives in the sandy zones as well. The sandy regions in Pakistan are the best places to farm them. The oil yield from jatropha is 45%. Its pour point, flash point, burning point, viscosity, kinetic viscosity, and everything else are comparable with biodiesel and are equally good as diesel. The oil content from jojoba is higher than that of jatropha. It is reported that up to 50% but some other experiments also proved up to 55% to 56%.

” She said that a nominal cost is required to extract the jatropha/jojoba oil. “After turning the extracted oil into biodiesel, it is further processed through transesterification. Some more purification processes are involved to stabilise it to be used in vehicles.” The PARC scientist said setting up a biodiesel oil refinery was far less costly than the conventional one. She said, “Farmers in the Punjab province cultivated jojoba in 2004-05. The outcrop was good. Unfortunately, no proper mechanism was officially devised at the provincial or national level to establish a marketing strategy. As a result, farmers had to bear the losses, and jojoba farming was thus discouraged.” Meanwhile, talking to WealthPK, Naveed Ahmad, an assistant director in Punjab’s agriculture department, said: “Planning plantations of new valuable plants was always a good sign, but it was equally necessary to bring awareness about them among the people. “Proper planning by the government is also important to help the cultivators earn profits from their crops.”

Credit: INP-WealthPk