The governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has announced the institution has so far disbursed US$11.6 million for the national biodiesel project.
Zimbabwe's biodiesel project is aimed at avoiding fuel shortages which have become a factor in the country's economic decline. The program is primarily based on the cultivation of Jatropha curcas, a drought tolerant shrub the oil-rich seeds of which make for a biodiesel feedstock.
Finealt Engineering, a registered company wholly owned by the government, is running the project. The funds are being used for plant design equipment, vehicle expenditures, recurrent expenditures, salaries, office furniture and stationery and consultancy fees. The governor further noted that site preparation, which included soil tests, site clearing, environmental impact assessment, topographical survey and erection of the site offices had been completed.
Civil works at the site are in progress. However, there is a challenge of financial resources to pay the contractor. Procurement of equipment, which includes steel vessels, oil expellers, lab and workshop equipment, earthing and pumping material have been delayed largely due to shortages of foreign currency.
Currently, farmers are selling a tonne of jatropha seeds grown on their own small plots of land for US$240 per ton. With an oil content of 40% and processing efficiencies based on small human powered oil expellers, this jatropha oil is competitive when crude oil prices are above US$60 per barrel. If operations were to be scaled-up and automated, the plant oil would have a considerably larger margin.
Finealt Engineering is working towards scaling up the industry and has applied for clearance to plant jatropha cuttings along the major roads of the nine districts in Mashonaland East in an effort to increase national production of the high oil-yielding plant. Finealt is currently in the process of purchasing jatropha seed for processing once the plant is set up. A total site area of 102 hectares, which includes 50 hectares targeted for the production of jatropha seedlings has been set aside so far.
Since 2005, Zimbabwe's government through the Ministry of Energy and Power Development and the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe has been stepping up efforts to promote the production of the jatropha plant as an alternative source of biodiesel to avert fuel shortages in the country. It established a Jatropha Growers and Bio-fuels Association aimed at disseminating information, technology and agricultural inputs to farmers.
Apart from extracting biodiesel fuel from jatropha, the government is also collaborating with Triangle Limited to reopen an ethanol blending plant which is expected to reduce the country's fuel imports by 10 percent when it becomes operational later this year.
Biopact
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