Kenya has moved closer to joining the trend towards biofuels with the establishment of a national task force on the growing of jatropha in the country’s arid and semi arid regions.
Mr. George Wachira, the general manager of the Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PIEA), said the jatropha project had attracted the attention of a number of large producers of biofuels in Europe and the Americas. The committee, set up under the PIEA, is expected to safeguard the interests of both small and large scale growers, as well as manage the entry of biofuels into the local petroleum market. It will also explore the opportunities for sale of carbon credits, either through direct exports or local certification.
“What is urgently needed to set this project rolling are fiscal policies to support bio fuels,” said Wachira. “A well-managed biofuels industry should compete favourably with fuels such as petroleum without harming the environment or the country’s food security.”
The project was established in 2005 to promote the cultivation of Jatropha for bio-diesel production throughout the over-grazed, eroded pastoral lands of Kenya. Jatropha offers the possibility of reforestation, improving climate and providing a new source of income for a rural people.
Millions of acres of under-used land is available if the project succeeds, which would transform the economy of the pastoralist communities, “ said Peter Moll of BioDiesel Kenya.
Initial capital requirements for a hectare of land are small. $150,000 will provide for the tractors, drills, two pick-ups to prepare land and seeds.
Business Daily Africa
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