Tanzania Cautioned on Embarking on Biofuel Production
July 7, 2008
Tanzania will risk endangering its country’s food supply and environment by embarking on biofuel production unless clear land and investment policies are adopted, the country’s Oxfam International coordinator told APA on Sunday.
Biofuels have been a hot issue this week, as mounting pressure from developed countries to produce a viable alternative to fossil fuels came head-to-head with a leaked World Bank report indicating that biofuel production has made food prices jump by 75 per cent by diverting grain away from food to fuel.
The biofuel production has encouraged farmers to set land aside for biofuel and sparked speculation in grains, driving prices up higher.
Launching two reports on biofuel production in the country, Oxfam coordinator Silas Olang urged the government to set clear policies and educate people on biofuel production before getting in over its head.
Olang said biofuel production in Tanzania may deepen poverty rather than stimulate development due to its consequences in the developing countries like Tanzania where more than 60 percent of the population depends on small-scale agriculture.
He said the World Bank report showed global food prices went up by 75 per cent, which is far more than the US government’s estimate of 3 per cent, because of agricultural fuel production.
America is currently using more than 30 per cent of its agricultural products on biofuel production, a situation that has contributed to the rise of food prices in the world, he said.
The answer is not to stop biofuel production altogether, he said, but instead to make sure that the government researches and outlines its land and investment policies, and then ensures that investors live up to those laws.
The Government must also take the initiative to educate Tanzanians on land ownership and usage for development, he said.
Source African Press Agency
Biofuel production in Tanzania will not really affect food production all that much. Most of the fuel used in Tanzania is diesel fuel and this can be produced from vegetable oils. The best of the oils is from the tree Jatropha, and it’s not generally edible. The tree grows on typically unproductive land and is rather drought resistant.
The lands in the vast dry areas of Tanzania should be used to grow Jatropha and this should then be pressed into oil and the put into their vehicles. This would not only relieve Tanzania from their large imports of diesel fuels, it would be a very large boost to their economy and their trade balance.
In the Western World there cannot be comparisons made to Tanzania on the shifts of food production to biofuel production. Westerners typically use grains such as maize (corn) for the production of ethanol which does two major things, 1) it decreases the amount of corn to be used for direct food production; and 2) it creates a shortage of corn thus driving up it’s price dramatically. An entirely different situation, with many unintended consequences, for countries such as the USA.