g+c- currently has arrangements with several nurseries in India located in Northwestern and Southern States, in West African locations and a few in South American sites. g+c- is setting up seed centers and nurseries to propagate seedlings for a few large projects (average size 7000 hectares).
One of the primary motivations is to supply seeds and seedlings to local farmers and other individuals who are interested in planting jatropha seedlings in acreage accessible to them or on sites that are not being farmed or otherwise not generally considered good for food production.
Jatropha does require water/rainfall and does prefer soil with good amount of organic matter and nutrients, although it will sustain itself under more stressful conditions.
g+c- is pursuing polyculture and intercropping with other short term cash crops, legumes etc and is also looking at pursuing vanilla planting in certain tropical/savannah regions.
The plant yields in 2-3 years and so we are well aware of the stresses faced by a farmer who can not sustain himself if he were to put bulk of his acreage under jatropha. g+c- strongly discourages any farmer from doing that and advises utilizing part of acreage for jatropha as well as pursuing intercropping etc.
The biomass wastes are also useful for heat/fuel/composting etc.
One advantage of jatropha is that it is non-edible oil source and as long as it's being planted on otherwise poor soil or readily available waste land etc, it will yield good returns in the intermediate to long run. It can produce for 15-20 years and more and needs relatively less ongoing maintenance except the labor in harvesting the seeds for the oil crushers and for biodiesel production.
