Abstract:
The high price for international crude oil has generated a lot of interest in renewable energy,
including oil extracted from tree-borne seeds. There are an estimated 300 tree species from
whose seeds oil can be obtained. Neem is one of these species. This case study focuses on the
potential of using neem as a biofuel in Niger, a poor, land-locked country in West Africa.
Various value additions are highlighted, including the use of raw oil to produce electricity, pump
groundwater, and run village flour mills. For the global community, neem plantations can help to
mitigate climate change while also providing a source of carbon income for local communities
planting and protecting such trees.
The paper traces the history of the spread of neem from South Asia to Africa where it was first
introduced to serve as a shelter belt against desert storms. Neem has now become a social tree.
Almost every village in Niger has a few of these trees under which important decisions are made
by elders. However, the economic value of the tree has not been fully realized. The paper
highlights the important results of a neem survey recently undertaken in the country to
understand local uses and reports on the various village-level experiments being conducted to
make use of the neem oil. The possibility of neem oil substituting for imported crude oil and the
potential of carbon credits provide new dimensions in the current work on neem. |
