Satish Lele satish.lele@gmail.com

A lot of plantation of Jatropha has been done in Maharashtra, over a lst few years. Substantial quantities of seeds will be available from Harvesting Season of 2010. A lot of plantations are done on Contract Farming basis, but how many of these Plantation Companies who had offered to buy at Rs. 6 per kilogram, will be in a position to buy these seeds is also a big question mark. There are a number of Oil Bearing Seed Trees, like Karanj, Neem, Mahua and many others which are spread in forests all over the area. The Adivasi (Aboriginal) people can collect these seeds, which generally fall on the ground during harvesting season. They can get good income and living by selling these seeds.
We are going to set up ethical system for buying Karanj, Neem, Mahua seeds from these people. This is a big business for treader and speculators, who often buy these at very low rate from Farmers and Seed Collectors, and make a big profit. This leads to exploitation and some farmers commit suicide and Adivasis turn to Naxalites. In such a scenario, the social organizations should set up a system to buy these seeds at fair price. The current fair price is Rs. 8 to 10 per kilogram of seed.

Main collection centers will have to be set up in district headquarters, with collection centers in smaller towns and villages in the district. These can be crushed in an oil expelling mills and oil can be sold as fuel. The cake can be digested in BioGas plant to get valuable fuel. Digested cake can be converted to BioFertilizer.
We would like to implement plantations in following Districts and Towns of Maharashtra. Later plantations will be extended to North Eastern Karnataka.

District	Towns (Main Collectors in Towns shown in bold)
Ahmadnagar	Ahmadnagar, Kopargaon, Sangamner, Bote, Shirur, Parner, Supe, Shrirampur, Ghodegaon, Shinganapur, Rahuri, Belapur, Newase, Shegaon, Bodhegaon, Pathardi, Belvendi, Shrigonda, Jamkhed, Daund.
Bid	Bid, Amalner, Umapur, Ranjini, Rajegaon, Majalgaon, Wadvani, Shrsala, Parli, Ambejogai, Renapur.
Usmanabad	Usmanabad, Parenda, Yermala, Kallam, Thair, Tuljapur, Umarga, Naldurg.
Latur	Latur, Ujani, Nilanga, Ahmadpur, Udgir, Ausa, Borgaon.
Parbhani	Parbhani, Hadgaon, Bori, Manwat, Pathri, Pimpli, Jintur, Gangakhed.
Hingoli	Hingoli, Basmat, Kalamnuri, Malegaon, Khandala, Aundah, Hankadari.
Nanded	Nanded, Himayatnagar, Bhokri, Warshi, Mukher, Karadkhel, Hanegaon, Mubkhed, Mahur, Sarkhani, Kinwat, Chikhli.
Aurangabad	Aurangabad, Vaijapur, Gangapur, Paithan, Chitegaon, Dhorkingaon, Davkhari, Adul.
Jalna	Jalna, Jafrabad, Rajur, Longaon, Borkhedi, Ambad, Varigodri, Parnur, Satuna, Mentha.
Nashik	Nashik, Niphad, Yewla, Nandgaon, Manmad, Sinnar.
Pune	Pune, Alephata, Bolhe, Manchar, Khed, Shikrapur, Ranjangaon, Indapur.

We are looking for overseas investers who need oil for their BioDiesel Plants. This can secure them a source of oil.