First sugarcane ethanol plant for Nigeria

US based company Lemna International has announced it plans to establish a 6.3billion naira (€38/US$50 million) ethanol production plant in eastern Nigeria's Taraba state within the next four months. The plant will use sugarcane as raw material for the ethanol, which is fast becoming the closest alternative to crude oil, as the price of the commodity continues to rise in the international market. Even though Nigeria is a major oil exporter and an OPEC member, its own economy is energy intensive and suffers under high energy prices. Ethanol investments are expected to partly offset this dependency.

Poverty alleviation
Lemna will use sugarcane as a feedstock, to be grown on 30,000 to 50,000 hectares of land. Speaking before a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the company and the Taraba state government, the firm's president, Viet Ngo, pointed out that the raw material would be produced by local farmers and that the company would pay more for it than what Nigerian sugar producers and consumers are willing to pay. This will translate into higher incomes for the producers of the crop and help in alleviating poverty. The state government is to provide the land, agricultural extension services and some form of 'social co-ordination' (it is unclear what is meant under this term). Nigeria's sugarcane industry is in its infancy, which is why Tabara state wants this project to start under the right conditions:
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No indication was given as to the capacity of the plant, but given the large land base and investment, we estimate that it will be in the order of 200,000 to 250,000 tonnes per year.

Viet Ngo added that, being from Minessota, "we share something with Taraba. We are an agrarian state. Minnesota is the biggest producer of agricultural produce and we are the biggest producers of ethanol in the USA. Taraba state is blessed with abundance of good land. The agricultural output is great but with the need for more fuel, this is a welcome development."

Also speaking before the MOU was signed by the state and the company, Governor of the state, Jolly Nyame said "Today marks an important event in the history of Taraba state. We are happy to associate ourselves with Lemna, a prominent company in the establishment of bio-ethanol plant. It is because of the warm climate in the state that the president has invited people to come and invest in the state." He told Mr. Ngo that "with the signing of this MOU, it is a clear indication that you are welcome to Taraba state."

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has in recent times encouraged the pursuit of alternative and renewable source of energy for the country. The renewable energy division of the corporation said it was working hard to actualize the fuel ethanol program for Nigeria. Engineer Funsho Kupol-okun, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC said early this year that upon the conclusion of rehabilitation works at the Atlas cove and Mosimi depots, its seeding programme for ethanol will commence.

Besides sugarcane, Nigeria is looking into using cassava as an ethanol crop. Nigeria's President, Olesogun Obasanjo, earlier launched a cassava ethanol program aimed at boosting the creation of an industry around the starch rich tuber and at bringing millions of jobs (earlier post). Even though Nigeria has a huge cassava production potential, the lack of both export and local markets keeps this potential untapped. The development of an export-oriented ethanol industry is seen as a way to overcome this problem.

Brazil's successful ethanol program serves as a blueprint for Nigeria's own state-supported initiatives. Both countries are actively cooperating on the matter. Earlier, China also signed a bilateral cooperation agreement with China to promote the production of cassava-ethanol. A first investment by a Chinese firm has been made in the sector (earlier post).