Tanzania targets sisal for ethanol, citric acid production

In Tanzania, the Mlingano Agriculture Research Institute will begin a sisal characterization program aimed to develop a protocol for the production of ethanol and citric acid from liquid effluents.

The program comes under the proposed ten-year Sisal Crop Development Plan (2011-2020) to characterize available sisal species and document their potential for various by-products. The government hopes to stabilize the price of fiber through marketing and exploitation of other sisal products while enhancing capacity-building and research capabilities at the Institute.