A jatropha nursery, which will produce an initial 360,000 plants in approximately two months, has been set up by the Peruvian-based Pure Biofuels Corp. In the long term the company has plans to scale up the nursery project to produce one million plants per month. The first yield of oil, which the company is going to use as feedstock for biodiesel production, is expected in less than a year.

Pure Biofuels’ Chairman Chris Tewell, stated, “The establishment of a Jatropha nursery is another significant milestone in our growth strategy. We believe that becoming a self-supplier of feedstock is one of our competitive differentiators and protects us from commodity price fluctuations. Importantly, our Jatropha plantation will provide development to adjacent rural communities, creating more than 10,000 jobs. We are very pleased to commence cultivating our own feedstock with the target of satisfying our full-scale biodiesel feedstock needs in the years ahead.”

The company intends to ramp up to a planting a rate of 1,000 hectares per month and expects 80% of its feedstock will be derived from its local Jatropha plantation by 2015.