Mozambique's Biofuel Crops vs. Food Security Dilemma

Mozambique's latest political corruption scandals probably make more news, but the African nation largely known for civil strife and deplorable living conditions, also faces economical dilemmas as it decides on biofuel crop production.

Biofuels vs. Food Crops

In central Mozambique, jatropha crops are flourishing. A toxic plant, indigenous to the Americas, jatropha was considered a weed until it was discovered to carry biofuel potential. The tree grows pods with seeds in them that can be harvested and pressed to yield roughly 35% of their weight in oil.

UK giant, Sun Biofuels, has implemented several large jatropha crops in Mozambique, claiming they are crucial to creating jobs in the impoverished country--as well as energy independence. The Mozambique government has embraced this heartily, allowing for up to 20% of its arable lands to be used for biofuel crops.

But there is a disparity between government policy and the knowledge farmers have of the crops they grow--not to mention what the long-term impacts will be. Mozambique's political instability has contributed greatly to the countries propensity for food shortages.

So, while jatropha enthusiasts say the plants ability to grow almost anywhere and yield high outputs of cleaner fuel, without taking farmland away from food crops, sceptics argue Mozambique should not grow an inedible biofuel crop when it still struggles to feed all its people.

The jatropha conversation is a huge, ongoing debate in the world of biofuels. Not only is jatropha a highly invasive plant that can wipe out indigenous plants native to where its being planted, it sucks up valuable water and soil that may be needed elsewhere.

This significance of this can easily be lost on Westerners, as we are rarely prone to food shortages. But for countries where health, safety, and food are an ongoing struggle, the implications are vast, and confusing.

Political Action

In August, five months after the Mozambican government adopted its biofuels policy, two organizations released a study called "Jatropha! A Socio-economic Pitfall for Mozambique" [pdf].

In it, the groups Environmental Justice and the National Union of Peasants question what they say are "myths" propagated by the jatropha industry and government officials. "Almost all of jatropha planted in Mozambique has been on arable land, with fertilizers and pesticides," the report says.

"Jatropha is planted in direct replacement of food crops," it adds. "Given that around 87 percent of Mozambicans are subsistence farmer...major concerns arise when one considers the plan to encourage (them) to plant large amounts of jatropha."

"It's not like they say, that it can grow anywhere, on any land," says Elias Timosse Panganai, a farmer in the village of Manhane, in central Mozambique, whose family tried unsuccessfully to grow jatropha. "With all that work we did we didn't receive anything. Not even a cent."

The United Nations says the world's food supply needs to grow 70 percent in the next four decades to feed a population expected to reach 9.1 billion.

With the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization meeting this week in Rome for a summit on food security, the rest of the world, too, is raising questions about the best uses of farmland in an age when technology and the need for green energy have created tension between food and fuel.

Source: Mother Nature Network