Villagers in India are being asked to grow a couple of new crops, jatropha and pongamia pinnata, to provide fuel rather than food.  Neither crop competes with food crops for either land or water.  Both are hardy plants that can be grown on dry, stony soil.  India just announced a new national biofuel policy.   According to a recent article in the Economist, "By 2017 it aims to meet 20% of India's diesel demand with fuel derived from plants rather than fossils."

D1-BP Fuel Crops, a joint venture between D1 Oils, a British biofuels firm, and BP, an energy giant, is trying to expand production of jatropha.  D1-BP has promised to pay impoverished farmers 6.50 rupees (14 cents) for every kilogram of the black seeds found inside the poisonous shrub's fruit. "Crushed, these seeds yield a viscous oil that burns with a clear, clean flame. The oil can run a generator or a pump. Or it can be refined into biodiesel that can fuel tractors, trucks or trains."

The pongamia pinnata, or Indian birch has crescent-shaped pods that contain seeds which can yield about 30% of their weight in oil, according to Roshini International Bio Energy, a firm based in Hyderabad.

The difficulty is that both crops take a long time to bear fruit.  Jatropha reaches full maturity in its fourth or fifth year; pongamia in its ninth.  Agronomists are working to graft plants onto saplings to shorten the time it takes for the plants to bear fruit.  Companies planning to buy the product are also working with self-help groups to provide support for the farmers and give them a stake in the outcome.  It's an interesting article.