Austin Beyadi
24 May 2010
Dar Es Salaam — A BIOENERGY and food security analysis in Tanzania has indicated that price of the feed stock would play a crucial role in ensuring that biofuels produced in Tanzania are economical.
The analysis shows that over 25-50 per cent reduction in the prices of feedstock would allow ethanol produced in Tanzania to become more competitive in international markets.
BEFS project Co-ordinator, Mr Heiner Thofern said that in the case of sugar cane, a 70 per cent reduction in the purchase price of sugar cane feed stock will bring the ethanol production costs closer to that of Brazil.
He said that increased agricultural yields will also imply a lesser amount of land requirement.
He said that taking into account Tanzania's preferential duty and quota free entry into European and American ethanol markets make Tanzanian ethanol production very attractive.
The BEFS framework is comprised of five core analytical components: Biomass potential, biofuel supply chain production costs, the agriculture markets outlook, economy wide impacts and household level food security.
The analysis was carried out in close consultation with the government.
The overall aim of the analysis is to support the formulation of bioenergy policies that are aligned with Tanzania's poverty reduction and food security strategies and start a continuous process that can inform policy over time.
He said that greater accessibility on farm technology through use of better varieties, access to training, irrigation, inputs, among others, could be the means to improve productivity of feed stock and reduce biofuel production costs.
He further said that even in case whereby the potential for biomass and biofuel production may be significant, lack of transportation networks may become a barrier for its commercialization.
Bioenergy crops considered in the analysis were sugar cane, sweet sorghum, palm oil and jatropha and the most important food security crops selected based on per capita calorie consumption were rice, maize, wheat, potatoes and sugar.
The analysis also assesses the availability of forest biomass and biomass from residues generated from the agricultural, agro industries and forestry processing industries for bioenergy production.
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