Brazil, Tanzania partner in biofuels development
In Tanzania, Brazilian experts have been invited to help survey and locate areas for biofuel crops.
Aloyce Tesha, Head of Communications in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, explains “Our intention is to have special areas or land that will be used for biofuel development or farming in the country.” Tesha further stated that Brazil’s Government has agreed to the request for technical support.
Negotiations are still underway, with the expectation that the survey will go forward, and that this will prevent future conflicts as investors start scaling up biofuel production. Tesha noted that, “If considerable action will not be taken to allocate special areas or land for biofuel farming, our animals will disappear and the local communities will suffer long-lasting environmental problems.”
There are already requests for 4 million hectares (10 million acres) to plant jatropha, palm oil and sugar cane throughout Tanzania. There are numerous and difficult issues with any major increase in biofuel crop production including, but not limited to questions about land ownership, land availability for farmers, environmental impacts, and exploitation of low land and labor prices.
Category: Fuels
