Europeans fish for biofuels in Senegal

Embarking on research for our new Senegal briefings, I wondered whether the mellifluous French language might bring a touch of poetry to the clumsy phraseology of the Millennium Development Goals or the National Adaptation Programmes of Action.

It doesn’t – and I’ll spare you the Gallic tongue-twisters. Instead I invite you to grapple with Le Programme National Biocarburant and La Grande Offensive Agricole pour la Nourriture et l’Abondance. These are the concurrent but somewhat contradictory government policies for rural economic development in Senegal.

The octogenarian president, Abdoulaye Wade, doesn’t go in for incremental strategies. Not for nothing is there a section on the front page of his government’s website reserved for Grands Projets.

Inspired by the Brazilian model, Senegal seized on Biocarburant in 2006 as an escape route from crippling fuel import bills. The biofuels plan envisaged that an average of 1,000 hectares in every rural district would be planted with jatropha.

Such was the scale of this ambition that some analysts forecast that Senegal could become a net exporter of fuel. There was talk of African countries forming a “green OPEC”.

Of course that was at the height of the craze for biofuels for which Senegal was by no means the only addict. Within months commodity markets took fright at the idea of food-for-fuel and prices rocketed. Dakar was convulsed in riots as the poor could no longer afford to eat.

Again influenced by radical ideology emerging from South America, in 2008 President Wade moved on to La Grande Offensive, another incredibly ambitious plan. At that time importing 60% of its food needs, Senegal was to be transformed to self-sufficiency by 2015.

This laudable vision has not been supported by the logical step of snuffing out the jatropha initiative. On the contrary, President Wade retains his missionary zeal. Visiting Brazil less than a year ago, he pronounced that, under the leadership of Senegal, “biofuels are going to provoke a revolution in Africa.”

A UK company, Crest Global Green Energy, has signed a deal with the Senegal government to access 100,000 hectares for production and export of biodiesel. A Norwegian company, Agro-Africa, is eyeing up a staggering 200,000 hectares.

These two contracts alone would accomplish almost the whole of the original 2006 target. Any reassurance that jatropha will be confined to marginal land is surely the thin end of the wedge. If the plant offers a return from poor quality land, I can see no mechanism for preventing farmers from seeking even greater returns at the expense of their food crops.

The Europeans have already devastated Senegal’s fishing grounds. Now they’re threatening to trawl the arable land. They need biodiesel to meet the EU target for 10% of transport fuels to be renewable by 2020.

Senegal is not Brazil. Attempting the trick of food self-sufficiency in parallel with biofuel exports is a risky gamble for a country ranked 166 in the UN Human Development Index.

There’s some comfort that jatropha biodiesel is not yet a fully convincing technology for industrial volume. But if the oil price edges towards $100 a barrel, investment in new research will lurch forward.

Europeans fish for biofuels in Senegal

Embarking on research for our new Senegal briefings, I wondered whether the mellifluous French language might bring a touch of poetry to the clumsy phraseology of the Millennium Development Goals or the National Adaptation Programmes of Action.

It doesn’t – and I’ll spare you the Gallic tongue-twisters. Instead I invite you to grapple with Le Programme National Biocarburant and La Grande Offensive Agricole pour la Nourriture et l’Abondance. These are the concurrent but somewhat contradictory government policies for rural economic development in Senegal.

The octogenarian president, Abdoulaye Wade, doesn’t go in for incremental strategies. Not for nothing is there a section on the front page of his government’s website reserved for Grands Projets.

Inspired by the Brazilian model, Senegal seized on Biocarburant in 2006 as an escape route from crippling fuel import bills. The biofuels plan envisaged that an average of 1,000 hectares in every rural district would be planted with jatropha.

Such was the scale of this ambition that some analysts forecast that Senegal could become a net exporter of fuel. There was talk of African countries forming a “green OPEC”.

Of course that was at the height of the craze for biofuels for which Senegal was by no means the only addict. Within months commodity markets took fright at the idea of food-for-fuel and prices rocketed. Dakar was convulsed in riots as the poor could no longer afford to eat.

Again influenced by radical ideology emerging from South America, in 2008 President Wade moved on to La Grande Offensive, another incredibly ambitious plan. At that time importing 60% of its food needs, Senegal was to be transformed to self-sufficiency by 2015.

This laudable vision has not been supported by the logical step of snuffing out the jatropha initiative. On the contrary, President Wade retains his missionary zeal. Visiting Brazil less than a year ago, he pronounced that, under the leadership of Senegal, “biofuels are going to provoke a revolution in Africa.”

A UK company, Crest Global Green Energy, has signed a deal with the Senegal government to access 100,000 hectares for production and export of biodiesel. A Norwegian company, Agro-Africa, is eyeing up a staggering 200,000 hectares.

These two contracts alone would accomplish almost the whole of the original 2006 target. Any reassurance that jatropha will be confined to marginal land is surely the thin end of the wedge. If the plant offers a return from poor quality land, I can see no mechanism for preventing farmers from seeking even greater returns at the expense of their food crops.

The Europeans have already devastated Senegal’s fishing grounds. Now they’re threatening to trawl the arable land. They need biodiesel to meet the EU target for 10% of transport fuels to be renewable by 2020.

Senegal is not Brazil. Attempting the trick of food self-sufficiency in parallel with biofuel exports is a risky gamble for a country ranked 166 in the UN Human Development Index.

There’s some comfort that jatropha biodiesel is not yet a fully convincing technology for industrial volume. But if the oil price edges towards $100 a barrel, investment in new research will lurch forward.

Pakistan plans biodiesel project to reduce imports

ISLAMABAD: To overcome the shortage of petroleum products and reduce its import bill, the government of Pakistan plans to present a pilot project �Jatropha Plantation and Production of Biodiesel� with an estimated cost of $1.6m, official sources said here yesterday.

The Korean government will assist the government in initiating the pilot project through provision of $1.4m while the remaining amount will be provided by the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited borrowing.

The pilot project will comprise cultivation of Jatropha on at least 200 hectares of land by farmers and setting up of a bio-diesel production unit. In this way, the farmers will earn from Jatropha farming, farm workers will have employment and small rural enterprises will sell or purchase the seeds.

Small-scale industries will grow for oil production and diesel fuel production would further provide business opportunities. Bio-products like press cake will be traded by villages, energy employment and earning will go together and marginal lands / cultivable wastelands will be utilised.

�The summary of the project has been sent to the Planning Commission for concept clearance so that work on it is processed further with donor agencies,� an official said.

The Zarai bank will play a vital role in promotion of alternate energy source through increase lending for cultivation of crops like Jatropha, Caster, Salicornia, Sukhchayn and algae as raw material for production of biodiesel.

To start with the pilot, the bank will promote plantation of Jatropha trees over 200 hectares.

Pakistan plans biodiesel project to reduce imports

ISLAMABAD: To overcome the shortage of petroleum products and reduce its import bill, the government of Pakistan plans to present a pilot project �Jatropha Plantation and Production of Biodiesel� with an estimated cost of $1.6m, official sources said here yesterday.

The Korean government will assist the government in initiating the pilot project through provision of $1.4m while the remaining amount will be provided by the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited borrowing.

The pilot project will comprise cultivation of Jatropha on at least 200 hectares of land by farmers and setting up of a bio-diesel production unit. In this way, the farmers will earn from Jatropha farming, farm workers will have employment and small rural enterprises will sell or purchase the seeds.

Small-scale industries will grow for oil production and diesel fuel production would further provide business opportunities. Bio-products like press cake will be traded by villages, energy employment and earning will go together and marginal lands / cultivable wastelands will be utilised.

�The summary of the project has been sent to the Planning Commission for concept clearance so that work on it is processed further with donor agencies,� an official said.

The Zarai bank will play a vital role in promotion of alternate energy source through increase lending for cultivation of crops like Jatropha, Caster, Salicornia, Sukhchayn and algae as raw material for production of biodiesel.

To start with the pilot, the bank will promote plantation of Jatropha trees over 200 hectares.

BP exits Jatropha biofuel project to focus on Ethanol

BP Biofuels in BrazilBP said today that it has left a project to turn jatropha trees into biofuels to concentrate on producing sugarcane ethanol in Brazil and the U.S., and to advance research of biobutanol. BP was a 50 percent partner with D1 Oils Plc in a joint venture set up in 2007 to develop jatropha, a drought-resistant tree whose seeds produce oil for use in biodiesel production. D1 today said it had agreed to acquire BP’s stake in the project and would maintain the business until market conditions provide new capital investment.

The British oil producer is collaborating with U.S. researchers to spend about $500 million over 10 years on biofuels research. The company says it already supplies 10 percent of the world’s biofuel and expects the fuel to account for 11 percent to 19 percent of the world’s transport-fuel market by 2030.

Zimbabwe expands jatropha plantations to step up biodiesel output

Zimbabwe was aiming to produce biodiesel from jatropha to substitute about 10% of its imported fuels by 2017, which National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) biofuels programme manager Abisai Mushaka said would be about 100-million litres of biodiesel a year.

The company was targeting to eventually plant about 120 000 ha/y of jatropha plantations to produce the biodiesel.

Since December last year, Zimbabwean farmers had planted about 1,5-million jatropha plants a week. Noczim was hoping to double this to about three-million plants a week. This would equate to about 50 000 ha/y of plantations, which would allow Zimbabwe to reach its 10% target by 2015.

The plantations were mostly being planted in the arid and semi-arid regions of the country, mostly on a small-scale basis.

A 35-million litre a year biodiesel plant had been commissioned at the end of 2007 to produce the fuel.

However, Mushaka noted that some key elements were still needed to ensure the sustainability of the programme.

The company was hoping to eventually establish large central estates for the planting of crops, as well as a number of smaller processing plants.

Zimbabwe expands jatropha plantations to step up biodiesel output

Zimbabwe was aiming to produce biodiesel from jatropha to substitute about 10% of its imported fuels by 2017, which National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) biofuels programme manager Abisai Mushaka said would be about 100-million litres of biodiesel a year.

The company was targeting to eventually plant about 120 000 ha/y of jatropha plantations to produce the biodiesel.

Since December last year, Zimbabwean farmers had planted about 1,5-million jatropha plants a week. Noczim was hoping to double this to about three-million plants a week. This would equate to about 50 000 ha/y of plantations, which would allow Zimbabwe to reach its 10% target by 2015.

The plantations were mostly being planted in the arid and semi-arid regions of the country, mostly on a small-scale basis.

A 35-million litre a year biodiesel plant had been commissioned at the end of 2007 to produce the fuel.

However, Mushaka noted that some key elements were still needed to ensure the sustainability of the programme.

The company was hoping to eventually establish large central estates for the planting of crops, as well as a number of smaller processing plants.