Bio-fuels to power South Africa's Eastern Cape province

South Africa has identified the bio-fuel industry as one of the sectors that has the potential to create thousands of jobs and secure huge levels of investment in the Eastern Cape. The bio-fuels industry is centred on the extraction of oil from food crops, including canola, soya, sunflower, sugar beet, maize, sorghum, wheat and sugarcane, as an alternative to non-renewable fossil fuels such as petrol. These oils are then added to diesel or ethanol mixes to lower the carbon emissions released by vehicles and industrial processes.

An official said the government has set aside R9.5-million for fencing and to plant canola and R8-million to plant sugar beet in the N2 Mbhashe local municipality to start the project. The project will be a partnership between investors and local commercial farmers. "The bio-fuel project is envisaged give a huge market for canola, soya beans, and sunflower, which was not there before," the official said.

This is to be achieved through establishing 500 000 hectares of land, of integrated rotational cropping within the next five years. The land will be cultivated as a basis for a 200 000 tonnes-per-year anchor bio-diesel plant and related bio-fuel opportunities and agro-processing.

In addition to ensuring food security, the bio-fuel industry will create an estimated 22 700 new jobs and a sustainable R2.9-billion per year agricultural production and processing industry in the province. The reason behind the establishment of the bio-fuels industry in the Eastern Cape is that the province is characterised by the availability of underutilised, high potential, arable land.


SouthAfrica.info