James Masing's advice on Jatropha

During the recent DUN sitting, Dato Sri James Jemut Masing advised to the Jatropha planters to get the crop seed suppliers to buy back the seeds; and they should not embark on expanding the areas that they have already planted with the crop.

Summary of Findings from MARDI's Assessment on Jatropha Curcus: Economical and Technical Perspectives as a Smallholder Crop in Malaysia.

* Oil yeild for jatropha at 1.2 tonne per ha is about 3 TIMES LOWER than that for oil palm at 3.6 tonne per ha.

* There is NO NET PROFIT from jatropha cultivation as compared to RM6,700 - RM6,800 per ha per year for oil palm and rubber.

Is it unwise to plant jatropha in Sarawak???

Is it true that it is not wise to plant jatropha in Sarawak as claimed by our 'beloved' Tan Sri Datuk Patinggi Alfred Jabu Numpang???

Or he actually doesn't want the crop to become a serious threat to oil palm which is his 'cash cow'???

He has made himself tonnes of monies through oil palm business (which is only made possible by taking away the rakyat's NCR lands to plant the crop) and therefore it is logical for him to stop the rakyat from embracing jatropha.