Critical for Africa to be part of the biofuels revolution

Africa’s low productivity of existing farming systems, combined with the large stretches of suitable crop- land, is making it the area with the world’s highest energy crop-production potential for the burgeoning global biofuels market and it is critical to the continent’s future to be part of this revolution, says the South African Biofuels Association (Saba).

“For indigenous economic development to be truly sustainable, it must be locally led. Among the most promising of such opportunities is the chance to develop a mature biofuels sector capable of fuelling both Africa’s vehicles and its economy,” says Saba president Andrew Makenete.
He adds that this promise will only be realised if the continent can shape the policies and attract the investment required to help this fledgling industry take root across the continent.

“As we have seen across Southern Africa, the potential benefits to the developing world are substantial. Thirty-eight of the world’s 45 poorest countries are crude-oil importers. However, most of these enjoy all the biomass required to generate renewable fuels. Such an industry would increase income levels, alleviating the crushing grip of poverty. It would also attract increased investment in agriculture, a critical but greatly challenged industry in its own right,” he says.

Makenete emphasises that biofuels can offer some of the world’s poorest countries the opportunity to achieve significant economic gains, while modernising their energy supply and benefiting the broader global community through participation in the fight against global warming. He adds that biofuels offer the promise of cheaper energy made from local crops that are refined by local workers.

Conservation organisation World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) South Africa agrees that there is a need for investment in agriculture, particularly in Africa, for the purposes of food security. WWF South Africa trade and investment programme manager Peet du Plooy adds that biofuels feed cars and not people, and, as such, have a potentially negative effect on food security. The nongovernmental organisation questions, however, whether industrial agriculture is the best model and biofuels the best market for better agriculture in Africa.

“Bioenergy can only be revolutionary for Africa if it is harvested from sustain- able resources and is used for energising the people of Africa, not European or Korean cars. If the sources are not sustainable, Africa will just be taking a more sophis- ticated route to burning its natural capital out from under it,” says Du Plooy.

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