Biofuels a boon to African rural development: report

In Indonesia, the Center for International Forestry Research recently released a new study showing that biofuel expansion has enormous potential to stimulate rural development in sub-Saharan Africa. The study cautions, however, that ensuring local community benefits and adequate protections for food production and forests will require strategic policy interventions and close collaboration among stakeholders.

The study shows that Africa has more land resources than all of Europe, North America and China combined. Biofuel feedstock production is a land-intensive and potentially labor-intensive process, which makes sub-Saharan Africa well suited for production.