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Kenya: Biofuels Likely to Boost Energy But Increase Hunger, Now Critics Warn
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The Nation (Nairobi)
29 August 2007
Posted to the web 28 August 2007
Jeff Otieno
Nairobi
Though biofuels are being touted as the solution to Africa's growing energy crisis, not everybody is happy with the rising demand for biofuel products.
Already, some environmentalists have raised concern about the potential threat to the continent's weak food security.
Although the use of bioenergy is yet to take root in Africa, there are fears that farmers might shift from growing food crops whose prices have remained low to biofuels which are currently attracting high prices in the world market.
Biofuels are made from living things or the waste they produce.
Wood energy
Bioenergy includes all agro-energy and wood energy resources. The former includes crops specifically grown for energy, such as sugarcane, cassava, sorghum, maize, palm oil, oilseeds and various grasses.
Other agro-energy resources are agricultural and livestock by-products such as straw, leaves, stalks, husks, shells, manure, droppings and any food and agricultural processing and slaughter by-products.
Wood energy resources, on the other hand, comprise charcoal, forestry residues, black liquor and any other energy derived from trees.
However, in recent years, the term "biofuel" has come to mean ethanol and diesel, made from crops like maize and sugarcane.
In Europe, for example, a whole new economy is developing, where huge investments are being made to turn cereal surpluses into fuels to be used in the motor industry.
Organic material
In fact, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen are among the major industries promoting the use of flexible-fuel vehicles - which can use synthetic fuel derived from crops and organic material as well as petroleum or diesel. The move is meant to reduce dependence on fossil fuels like petrol and diesel.
It is the new technology that has left environmentalists a worried lot. They argue that food aid for Africa's impoverished population may not be available in future as surplus agricultural production in the developed world will be diverted to produce bioenergy for the motor industry in Europe and North America.
According to Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), though bioenergy has the potential of improving the wellbeing of people in rural areas, some types may compromise food security and also cause environmental damage.
"Development of the sector will require special government attention to environmental and food security concerns," according to FAO, the specialised United Nations organisation, that leads international efforts to combat hunger.
The organisation argues that although there are many linkages between traditional agricultural biomass and food security, rapid development of liquid biofuels for transport has the greatest immediate impact on food security.
It says major agricultural producers, such as Brazil, the US, the EU and Canada are expected to reduce exports of basic feedstock commodities (for example, cereals or oilseeds) for use in domestic biofuels industries and also increase imports of biofuels.
"Liquid biofuels derived from food crops may have different food security implications than modern bioenergy systems based on waste materials," the organisation warns.
As competition for arable land and water for biofuel production increases, FAO predicts a sharp rise in world food prices.
"Countries that are importers of both food and energy could face some serious challenges over time," the organisation adds.
The concern about biofuels is not only confined in West. In Kenya, Climate Network Africa (CNA), an NGO dealing with environmental matters, agrees with FAO.
According to Ms Grace Akumu of CNA, biofuels without strict regulations can be catastrophic.
While local production of biofuels on a small scale of can boost local energy production, as is the case with ethanol, the international market can completely destroy available opportunities for sustainable production.
Ms Akumu cautions that the world could be aggravating the negative effects of climate change by converting millions of acres into maize, palm oil and soy fields.
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"It is becoming clear that we could be making climate change even worse, driving more species into extinction, and at the same time, threatening food production," she adds.
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