UK-based Sun Biofuels plans to produce 2 million liters of fuel from its jatropha plantations in Mozambique's central Manica province by 2018, an official said on Monday.
Business Development Director Harry Stourton said the company will increase its cultivation area of jatropha plants to 10,000 hectares from the 2,500 hectares it has so far.
"Our forecast is to produce 20,000 tonnes of crushed oil from jatropha by 2018 when we are at full capacity, to be cultivated on 10,000 hectares of land in Manica investing some $15 million in the process," he told Reuters.
"This will yield roughly 2 million litres of fuel per year."
Jatropha has been widely heralded as a wonder plant whose cultivation on non-arable land in Africa, Asia and Latin America would provide biodiesel and jobs in poor countries without using farmland needed to feed growing numbers of local people.
Stourton said the fuel will be used in Mozambique, and potentially for exports to South Africa and Europe.
