Nairobi — Biofuels have the potential to foster Kenya's energy self sufficiency.
With production being undertaken in a sustainable and equitable manner to support rural development, the move could also reduce deforestation.
According to the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), Kenya has to zone areas of growing high yield feed stocks (plants) to produce biofuels as a green energy source to substitute fossil fuels.
Biofuels can also cut the country's overdependence on imported crude oil and refined fuel besides having positive impact on greenhouse gas emission reduction.
Sessional Paper No. 4 of 2004 on Energy and Energy Act of 2006 recognise the importance of this.
Kenya has a five year strategy to drive processing and marketing environmentally friendly biofuels made from Jatropha curcas among other trees while bio-refineries will enhance infrastructure.
ACTS executive director Judi Wakhungu said zoning is vital to produce maps showing biodiversity, variety of land uses, protected areas and sites suitable for growing biofuel feedstock with yields.
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Biofuels are an important part of the way to go. But look more at those feedstocks you need to deplete anyway: weeds. There's a bunch, all of them biomass. When you have depleted and controlled them, then look at what you must cultivate.