Ecobreves – CUBA: Soap from an Oil Nut

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

GUANTANAMO, Cuba, Jul 18 2005 (IPS) - Farming families in El Oro community, located in the semi-arid region of this eastern Cuban province, have been successful in making soap from the extracted from the Jatropha curcas tree (known locally as 'piñón botija'), a plant that also helps prevent erosion. The plantation of the Jatropha curcas covers some 2.5 hectares, and for now the soap is produced by hand from the Jatropha nut, or physic nut, in a small laboratory. Every 100 kg of crushed nuts produces an estimated 38 liters of oil.

“The machine is still in its test phase, but with that quantity of oil we can make around 50 bars of soap,” Migdalia León, manager of the ecological station at San Antonio del Sur, told Tierramérica. This coastal area of Guantánamo province has been hit hard by drought and salinization.