Success for Jatropha Trial

The company chief Mong Reththy told the Phnom Penh Post that the trial that had produced eight tonnes of oil per hectare had shown that the crop was worthwhile growing in Cambodia.

The oil sells for as much as $720 per tonne overseas.

"We hope this crop will become a major source of biofuel, animal feed and fertiliser in Cambodia," Mong Reththy said, adding that exports could bring millions of dollars in profits.

The Mong Reththy Co signed a joint venture agreement with London-based D1 Oils Plc in 2007 to plant jatropha on 100,000 hectares of land in Stung Treng. The agreement was conditional on the success of the pilot programme.

The company is to receive US$400 million in development funds to include a bio-fuel factory in the province.

D1 Oils has also conducted trials in Indonesia this year.

Mong Reththy said he has also partnered with a South Korean firm to assist in planting the crops.

Long Phall, deputy governor of Stung Treng province, rold the Post: "We will have employment for more farmers and a factory for them to sell their crops."

Cambodia's government has been championing biofuels - specifically jatropha - for more than eight years now.

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