Small, organic, sustainable, bottom-up: black farmers in South Africa explore biofuels
South Africa does not have a straightforward relationship with agriculture. In fact, as with most economic sectors, the country's farming sector is still haunted by its past: land-ownership and capital are unequally distributed and tensions over resource control and access to markets remain high, dividing black and white communities. White farmers use their vast tracts of land to produce commidities for export, whereas black farmers till their micro-plots and farm their backyards in order to subsist.
The same divide is apparent in South-Africa's nascent biofuels industry. Earlier, we analysed some of South Africa's big 'top-down' approaches to the development of the sector. Major multinational corporations (amongst them De Beers and SASOL) create new enterprises, go to the capital markets to raise money, and throw a few billions into their green fuel ventures. All this happens within the framework of official government targets and policies. It's the business-as-usual approach: big, top-down, market-driven, barely socially responsible.
But there is another approach - bottom-up, small-scale, sustainable, socially driven - and in South Africa it is black farmers who are pushing it. The National African Farmers' Union (NAFU) which seeks to empower black subsistence farmers by integrating them into the mainstream economy, is looking at how these farmers can tap into the biofuels industry in order to increase their subsistence levels and their food security:
ethanol :: biodiesel :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: sustainability :: empowerment :: development :: South Africa ::
The first thing it did was to create a 'consortium' of subsistence farmers' organisations from Mpumalanga province. These then went straight to the top and presented their case, out of which a programme known as the 'National Organic Produce Initiative' arised. Under the programme, the provincial government provides start-up seeds, small community-owned tractors and other support material. The creation of one-stop agricultural support centres aimed at providing skills and knowledge about the biofuels sector is on the drawing board.
This is a public-private partnership, but not an ordinary one. The 'private' component here is not just any commercial entity, it is itself composed of organisations that work towards social justice and economic empowerment of the weakest. So what drives this approach? It's not just a do-good policy. It's not merely a charitable gesture. On the contrary, the drive is pure raison d'état and economic necessity. 18% of the province's work force consists of small black subsistence farmers and the government cannot afford to keep this mass of people in the situation they're living in now. The long-term sustainability of society is at stake here.
Obviously, no government would put it in such stark terms. That is why biofuels come in handy. They offer both parties a credible discourse on which they both can base their differing demands and present them elegantly to the outside world. Biofuels offer a realistic economic opportunity for subsistence farmers to access a local but promising market, and the government can channel potential social tensions through the creation of an outreach initiative that does make economic sense.
More information:
South African Government Information: Emerging farmers supports Mpumalanga Government initiatives - August 17, 2006
AllAfrica: South Africa: NAFU, Mpumalanga Partner to Stimulate Growth - August 17, 2006
Article continues
The same divide is apparent in South-Africa's nascent biofuels industry. Earlier, we analysed some of South Africa's big 'top-down' approaches to the development of the sector. Major multinational corporations (amongst them De Beers and SASOL) create new enterprises, go to the capital markets to raise money, and throw a few billions into their green fuel ventures. All this happens within the framework of official government targets and policies. It's the business-as-usual approach: big, top-down, market-driven, barely socially responsible.
But there is another approach - bottom-up, small-scale, sustainable, socially driven - and in South Africa it is black farmers who are pushing it. The National African Farmers' Union (NAFU) which seeks to empower black subsistence farmers by integrating them into the mainstream economy, is looking at how these farmers can tap into the biofuels industry in order to increase their subsistence levels and their food security:
ethanol :: biodiesel :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: sustainability :: empowerment :: development :: South Africa ::
The first thing it did was to create a 'consortium' of subsistence farmers' organisations from Mpumalanga province. These then went straight to the top and presented their case, out of which a programme known as the 'National Organic Produce Initiative' arised. Under the programme, the provincial government provides start-up seeds, small community-owned tractors and other support material. The creation of one-stop agricultural support centres aimed at providing skills and knowledge about the biofuels sector is on the drawing board.
This is a public-private partnership, but not an ordinary one. The 'private' component here is not just any commercial entity, it is itself composed of organisations that work towards social justice and economic empowerment of the weakest. So what drives this approach? It's not just a do-good policy. It's not merely a charitable gesture. On the contrary, the drive is pure raison d'état and economic necessity. 18% of the province's work force consists of small black subsistence farmers and the government cannot afford to keep this mass of people in the situation they're living in now. The long-term sustainability of society is at stake here.
Obviously, no government would put it in such stark terms. That is why biofuels come in handy. They offer both parties a credible discourse on which they both can base their differing demands and present them elegantly to the outside world. Biofuels offer a realistic economic opportunity for subsistence farmers to access a local but promising market, and the government can channel potential social tensions through the creation of an outreach initiative that does make economic sense.
More information:
South African Government Information: Emerging farmers supports Mpumalanga Government initiatives - August 17, 2006
AllAfrica: South Africa: NAFU, Mpumalanga Partner to Stimulate Growth - August 17, 2006
Article continues
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
India to broaden range of biofuels crops
India's liquid biofuel policies are heavily focused on biodiesel derived from two oilseed bearing tree-crops, namely Jatropha curcas and Pongamia pinnata (locally known as 'karanj'). Now the Indian government plans to launch a special mission to promote the cultivation of other crops for alternative fuels, including sugar and starch crops, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said.
The mission would focus on crops like sweet sorghum, maize, cassava, sugarcane and sugar beat, he said addressing a Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his ministry. This mission will comprise 14 central ministries involved in the promotion of bio-fuels and state governments, he added.
Pawar emphasized the need for making biofuel cultivation economically viable for farmers as an alternative crop, and as a way to substitute petroleum, prices of which are soaring. India's annual requirement of petroleum products is about 124 million metric tons, 72 per cent of which is met through imports at present costing over €25 billion (US$32bn) annually.
The ministry has been playing a pioneering role in taking the country on the path of biofuels by constituting a National Oilseeds and Vegetable Oils Development (NOVOD) Board. The Board has undertaken a countrywide network project for the identification and development of elite planting material resulting in the plantation on 10,000 hectares of test-land at different places in 21 states.
ethanol :: biodiesel :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: India :: sorghum :: cassava :: crops ::
Article continues
posted by Biopact team at 5:36 PM 0 comments links to this post