A policy to govern the development of bio-fuel sector should involve the communities that are likely to be affected by the new venture, an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), noted during the weekends.

Action Aid Tanzania, an international NGO, committed to fighting poverty, injustice and inequality in communities said involving communities during preparation of the legal document will help the country to refrain from social and environmental devastations associated with bio-fuel development.

"The process to enact a policy should be participatory," reads a statement in the recommendation reached upon at a one-day seminar on 'Implications of Bio-fuel Production on Food Security in Tanzania'.

Over 60 people from government ministries, academic and research institutions, NGOs, CBOs [Community-based Organizations] and farmers participated at the workshop that was moderated by Mr Derek Murusuri, a business management consultant.

Participants resolved to advise the government on ways of making bio-fuel beneficial to Tanzania instead of benefiting developed countries and investors alone, according to Mr Murusuri.

They include how bio-fuel investors are supposed to acquire and use land for bio-fuel development as well as pricing of bio-fuel feedstock plus the possible threats that bio-fuel poses on food and energy security.

"Bio-fuel plantations should not occupy arable lands earmarked for food crops in fertile irrigated lands. This means, bio-fuel plantations should be allocated (in classification and in practice) marginal lands," reads a statement in the resolutions.

It is recommended that the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) should not allocate land to investors. The centre should only be coordinating the acquisition process.

For small-scale farmers to benefit from bio-fuel development, participants at the Action Aid workshop resorted to advising the government to set a minimum support price (MSP) for bio-fuel oil seeds.

"This will help to protect farmers from unscrupulous business people who are fond of cheating farmers when the price is only determined by market forces," reads a statement.

To make sure that bio-fuel production does not threaten food security, says the NGO, it is recommended that only non-edible oil seeds should be used for bio-fuel production.

Action Aid also wants Tanzania to form an independent regulatory body, involving several stakeholders, to oversee the practice of bio-fuel from plantation, processing and supply.

There should also be a balance between bio-fuel meant for an export market and what is to be consumed locally. This will help Tanzania to make sure that the bio-fuel produced in the country does not only help developed countries while the country spends much of its foreign earnings on importing fuel.

"Processing of bio-fuel should be done locally to provide employment, transfer technology and accelerate development of local communities," it says.