The last week of November was dedicated to travelling throught India and find o
ut more on their biofuel policy and feedstock production of mainly Jatropha curcas. The travelling plans were made by us and with help of ICRAF in New Delhi we were able to obtain visa, all air tickets, hotel in Delhi and even help to visit Agra. Miyuki and I are working together on the biofuel subject at ICRAF in Nairobi. On Monday evening we left Nairobi with Emirates to Dubai where we had to wait 5 hours for our connection to Delhi. I had never flown with them before and was quite appalled with the colour choice of the plane interior, but everything else was OK. In Delhi a driver was waiting for us to transfer us to the domestic airport, which took half an hour drive mainly because of ques. By the time we reached Hyderabad I
could sleep anywhere standing. We arranged our own taxi, and had no problem to find the ICRISAT campus. They have a guestel of high quality hotel standards, which is a very convenient place to stay if you have appointments on campus, which is a very serious dedicated to science in the arid tropics. We visited a project organised by them growing 140 ha Jatropha and Pongamia close to a small village, where most of the work was done by the women. The same evening we landed in Coimbatore where some serious Jatropha breeding is going on obtaining very uplifting results. The major back draw is that all research confirms that it will never become the oil producing shrub that does well on marginal dry lands. It will be marginal inputs and output or high inputs and outputs, never both. But in any case it is able to make a lush and green hedge for a large part of the year even in dry areas, for which the yields of this additional cash crop can be enhanced wi
th 30 to 60% by breeding and silvicultural practices if the inputs are available.
On Saturday we landed in Delhi where we met Katja again, and had dinner together. That evening we enjoyed the most expensive hotel of the whole trip, to rise early again in the morning to drive to Agra 200 km south of Delhi. We rented a taxi for the whole day for $100 including taxes and toll. Agra was surprisingly dirty and unorganised while the Taj Mahal was the monument of marble white serenity itself with all its detail and hundreds of tourists, mainly Indian dressed in their Sunday best.. To them we were an additional tourist attraction. Katja was even given a baby in her arms by a total str
anger for a picture. There were animals everywhere, monkeys, squirrels and green parrots, often very close to humans. The red castle is a very beautiful building complex too, although it is less well preserved as. Although I sensed it had millions of untold stories, with rooms covered in gold plated marble and wells that went many stories deep. According to Katja the toilets were to worth a visit though. After that we went back to Delhi again, although it had taken us 3,5 h to get there that morning in the evening it took us 5 hours to get back. All building activities in the city were not helping much either. They are building a sky-train or metro connecting many of the corners of the city. Monday morning at 8 o’clock there was surprisingly little traffic on the way to the airport, the driver informed us that we were too early. So we left Delhi again with both its expensive hotels and begging children living at the roundabout in front it. Dubai airport was glossy as ever, and I bought Merijn a few presents, of which the chocolate camel disappeared quickly after I got home.
ut more on their biofuel policy and feedstock production of mainly Jatropha curcas. The travelling plans were made by us and with help of ICRAF in New Delhi we were able to obtain visa, all air tickets, hotel in Delhi and even help to visit Agra. Miyuki and I are working together on the biofuel subject at ICRAF in Nairobi. On Monday evening we left Nairobi with Emirates to Dubai where we had to wait 5 hours for our connection to Delhi. I had never flown with them before and was quite appalled with the colour choice of the plane interior, but everything else was OK. In Delhi a driver was waiting for us to transfer us to the domestic airport, which took half an hour drive mainly because of ques. By the time we reached Hyderabad I
could sleep anywhere standing. We arranged our own taxi, and had no problem to find the ICRISAT campus. They have a guestel of high quality hotel standards, which is a very convenient place to stay if you have appointments on campus, which is a very serious dedicated to science in the arid tropics. We visited a project organised by them growing 140 ha Jatropha and Pongamia close to a small village, where most of the work was done by the women. The same evening we landed in Coimbatore where some serious Jatropha breeding is going on obtaining very uplifting results. The major back draw is that all research confirms that it will never become the oil producing shrub that does well on marginal dry lands. It will be marginal inputs and output or high inputs and outputs, never both. But in any case it is able to make a lush and green hedge for a large part of the year even in dry areas, for which the yields of this additional cash crop can be enhanced wi
th 30 to 60% by breeding and silvicultural practices if the inputs are available.On Saturday we landed in Delhi where we met Katja again, and had dinner together. That evening we enjoyed the most expensive hotel of the whole trip, to rise early again in the morning to drive to Agra 200 km south of Delhi. We rented a taxi for the whole day for $100 including taxes and toll. Agra was surprisingly dirty and unorganised while the Taj Mahal was the monument of marble white serenity itself with all its detail and hundreds of tourists, mainly Indian dressed in their Sunday best.. To them we were an additional tourist attraction. Katja was even given a baby in her arms by a total str
anger for a picture. There were animals everywhere, monkeys, squirrels and green parrots, often very close to humans. The red castle is a very beautiful building complex too, although it is less well preserved as. Although I sensed it had millions of untold stories, with rooms covered in gold plated marble and wells that went many stories deep. According to Katja the toilets were to worth a visit though. After that we went back to Delhi again, although it had taken us 3,5 h to get there that morning in the evening it took us 5 hours to get back. All building activities in the city were not helping much either. They are building a sky-train or metro connecting many of the corners of the city. Monday morning at 8 o’clock there was surprisingly little traffic on the way to the airport, the driver informed us that we were too early. So we left Delhi again with both its expensive hotels and begging children living at the roundabout in front it. Dubai airport was glossy as ever, and I bought Merijn a few presents, of which the chocolate camel disappeared quickly after I got home.
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