Food, Fuel, Biodiversity & Climate Change

In 2008, the world experienced the first global food and energy crisis, sending commodity and fuel prices spiraling upwards and bringing hardship to families in both developed and developing countries.

Issues such as climate change, resource depletion and the health of the planetary ecosystem are adversely impacting the daily lives and concerns of all citizens. The current food and energy crisis provides the first glimpse into the challenges we will all face as the world moves forward into this era of diminishing resource availability and climate change.

The Biofuels industry, at large, now recognizes the need to move towards in-edible, energy dedicated crops grown on marginal and wastelands. The industry is rapidly moving towards the implementation of 2^_nd and 3^_rd generation biofuel technologies which utilise sustainably produced and harvested non-food crops, crop residues and biomass resources. Mission, in recognising the consequences of the issues at hand, has taken proactive measures to utilize non-food crops as biofuel.

Jatropha Curcas - A Non Food Biofuel Feedstock Crop

Mission NewEnergy has an extensive program of planting Jatropha Curcas - a non edible oilseed tree suited to cultivation on marginal lands. Jatropha is a hardy, long-lived perennial which can help restore degraded landscapes and mitigate against the effects of climate change. More importantly, Jatropha's oil does not compete in the food-fuel debate as the oil can only be used towards biofuel production.

We are working with small farmers across diverse regions of India, assisting them to plant Jatropha on marginal and unutilised portions of their landholdings. Mission provides the farmers with agricultural inputs, ongoing support services through our extension network, and crop purchasing guarantees.

Food+Fuel+Forest (The 3 Fs)

In response to the need to achieve a sustainable balance between food and energy production, Mission plans to implement a Marginal Lands Integrated Farming Systems and Good Agricultural Practices approach to our Jatropha Curcas planting program. The program envisages wider reforestation on degraded forest lands thereby recreating and enhancing the habitat for poor forest dependent populations.

Our Food+Fuel+Forest program aims to maintain and enhance local food production as well as conserve biodiversity and environmental values whilst providing economic sustenance.

At Mission, we believe in the potential for Jatropha and bio-energy feedstocks to contribute to the sustainable and socially responsible use of the world's vast marginal land reserves - responsible resource consumption globally thereby helping to improve the lives of impoverished rural populations, conserve biodiversity, reduce carbon emissions and build local and global food and energy security.