Africa Looks to Shrubs and Sugar to Beat Oil Price

Some of Africa’s poorest nations are clubbing together to try to position themselves as global suppliers of biofuel, hoping to use everything from shrubs to sugar to offset the economic impact of rising crude prices.

Inspired by Brazil, where three quarters of new cars run on a mix of biofuel and gasoline, 13 nations met in Senegal on Thursday to form the African Non-Petroleum Producers Association (PANPP), aimed at developing alternative energy sources.

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