SMBTA News: Mission NewEnergy Provides Entrepreneurship for Indian Farmers and Sustainable Biofuel for Air Travel

At a time when the global economy is in need of every boost possible, Mission NewEnergy (NASDAQ: MNEL)(ASX: MBT) is teaching impoverished farmers in India how to operate a small business by cultivating Jatropha plants for world consumption.

Over 1,940,000 acres of otherwise unusable land are now growing Jatropha, the “miracle plant” that can provide “strong environmental and socioeconomic benefits” in use as an aviation biofuel according to a recent in-depth study at Yale University.

Nathan Mahalingam, Managing Director of Mission NewEnergy, the world’s largest Jatropha growing company, currently has contracts with over 100,000 farmers, who in turn provide work for hundreds of thousands of others now able to increase their living standard by cultivating Jatropha, a non-edible plant, without compromising food supply or food pricing.

The company has established an unprecedented “small business chain” using state of the art technology to link individual farmers with regional supervisors in India and managers at the company’s Australian headquarters.

“We are particularly pleased to learn of the successful testing of Jatropha in aviation around the world,” Mahalingam said. Japan Airlines, Air New Zealand, KLM, Virgin Atlantic, Continental, Brazil’s TAM Airlines, Lufthansa and the Mexican carrier Interjet in cooperation with Airbus have already conducted successful test flights with Jatropha.

The United Nation’s International Civil Aviation Organization has established the goal of reducing aviation related carbon dioxide emissions through the use of renewable fuels like Jatropha oil.

Executives at Air New Zealand, one of the most aggressive Jatropha reliance planners, have projected substantial savings in fuel costs in addition to the sustainability benefits.

In addition to the airline industry, Jatropha plant products are being carefully studied for a wide range of medical and agricultural uses.

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The Small and Medium Technology Alliance (SMBTA) is a national organization serving small businesses by providing information regarding technology and environmental sustainability.