Bio-diesel production- Growing opportunity for African farmers?

As the need for power to fuel the world’s economy grows, bio-fuels are increasingly being seen as a potential opportunity for African farmers. There are many efforts by farmers to diversify into bio-fuel production across the continent. In Botswana, one such new project aimed at producing bio-diesel from oil extracted from the sunflower seeds and has the potential to improve incomes for farmers and create new jobs.

Continental Agricultural and Industrial Development, an international company specialising in bio diesel production from sun flowers has put an estimated $ 3 million agricultural tractors and equipment to do the ploughing and the planting of the crop. The farmers who benefit from the project will be trained in the necessary skills. The project is intended to help farmers to move away from subsistence farming to become commercial farmers.

Apart from growing the plant, farmers will be engaged in the process of extracting oil from the sunflower seeds at the company’s oil extraction plants. Continental will provide the technology for the extraction process. The company and the farmers will jointly own the facilities for extracting the oil and turning it into bio-diesel. The project is expected to create roughly 10,000 direct jobs and benefit 40,000 more indirectly through the additional processes such as servicing, transportation and delivery of the oil. Another estimated1, 400 industrial jobs could be created in the extraction plants.

Taking advantage of this opportunity will require farmers to not only know agriculture but they would also understand the energy industry and the market for their product.

Bio-diesel is a clean burning alternative fuel produced from domestic renewable resources such vegetable oils, including sunflower, animal fats or greases. However, there are increasing questions on whether bio-fuels will actually help address climate change. Scientists have recently found that the clearing of new lands for farming, and the process of extraction of some bio-fuels can add more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than their use reduces. Another growing concern is whether farmers will switch totally to these new products to the detriment of food production. This, coupled with increasing demand for staples like maize and soybean (which are also used for bio-fuel production) are likely to make them so expensive that ordinary people cannot afford them as food. Oil from sunflower seeds is usually combined with ethanol from sorghum seeds and two components are used in the chemical process of producing bio-diesel. Sorghum is a staple in most countries in Africa and its increased use to produce fuel could affect food prices, researchers warn.

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