Certainly, food comes first as worldwide consumption increases, weather difficulties limit supplies and petroleum costs drive up prices. It's more important that we have food in our stomachs than fuel in our tanks. That said, there is plenty of land in Africa that can not support food crops and lays fallow. It is not unreasonable to want to leverage this unused land to generate some income and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

The bulk fuel market calls for bulk production that the small farmer will find difficult to compete in. Rather than shutting the door on all biofuel production, it is more prudent to set reasonable guidelines, such as:

1.) Do not use any land that can affectively grow food crops; 2.) Do not cut down any large trees, using land that was cleared long ago; 3.) Do not plant in large contiguous plots; 4.) Use sustainable practices in all aspects of operation; 5.) Drastically limit the use of petroleum in farm machinery, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides; 6.) Keep jobs, the resultant fuel and profits in-country; and 7.) Ensure that the local community shares in the profits.

Africa needs to leverage its own natural resources, not turn them over to outsiders or let them go to waste. We all need food and fuel and we need to become more self sufficient to keep money from flowing out of our countries.

Biofuels is a business Africa can accel at, we just need to use reasonable business models and to work together. We need to learn a lesson from the petroleum resources that leave the continent with little to show for it. We need African Biofuels for Africa.