Update: Biofuels Promotion and Food Security in Tanzania
Biofuels promotion brought up the international food prices and coupled maize price to oil’s fast growing price (Brown, 2007; OECD, 2007; Ziegler, 2007; FAO, 2007; IFAD, 2008; IFPRI, 2008; WorldBank, 2008). Direct impact on Tanzanian food prices is very likely.
In 2008, due to increased ethanol processing capacity, diversion of maize to fuel production directly impacts availability globally. From January to May 2008 Tanzanian importers weren’t able to physically purchase the required 300000 tons of maize to face food shortages notwithstanding import duty waiver from January to May 2008. Tanzanian traders reported to media that maize was unavailable because serving the energy market (www.theglobeandmail.com).
Tanzania promotes Biofuels production and set high domestic targets to attract investors. The African continent is the most vulnerable and less responsive to climate change (IPCC, 2007) and Tanzania already suffers from climate stress (mostly droughts). Droughts and floods reduced staple food production in the past years and are projected to aggravate in the whole region (IFPRI, 2008). Why energy crops should succeed where food crops repeatedly failed remains unclear.
In past emergencies Malawi provided maize (WFP, feb 2007) but in 2007-08 was hit by floods and resorted to ban export (www.africanews.com). Mozambique suffers for the same reason. Increased fuel prices further strangle trade just as fertilizers’ prices do with production. Tanzania heavily relies on food-aid in cash for food import and imports fuels.
Opportunities:
Exclusively Biofuels for local use could benefit from CDM funding, but foreign investments are for export. Jatropha could help to replenish fertility of deforested, overgrazed land where Ngitili (fallow) must be practiced, thus improving food and energy security in water poor areas. Sugarcane and Oil Palm have the highest energy return on energy invested (EROEI) of all first generation Agrofuels and may contribute to reduce dependence on oil for food production and transport, provided sound management.
Risks:
Jatropha is presently grown on the best land by foreign firms via displacing farmers (edmi.parliament.uk, 2008). Jatropha presents many obstacles to industrial processing and low EROEI thus it’s a bad candidate either to transform the national energy matrix or to export (Mayorga, 2007).
Oil Palm is suitable only in an eastern biodiversity rich area where it could compete with food and threaten the forest. Sugarcane may compete for land and water with food production (maize and rice also have high requirements).
All land is state owned therefore the state, in its sovereign right to dispose of it (“National Interest”, assuming high profitability, allows expropriation of land; IIED, 2007; www.agriculture.go.tz), granted to foreign investors some of the best rainfed land, evicting at least 12000 farmers (the real figure is unknown) against minimum compensation (ABN, 2007). Large part of the national land remains underutilized since it requires costly irrigation.
Conclusion:
If global and national promotion of Biofuels continues following this pattern more food producers will become displaced and food-aid net consumers. The recently claimed food crisis in Tanzania is likely to recrudesce and recur with no trade-off with significant improvement of national energy security.
15-05-2008
Andrea Markos
CIRPS, University La Sapienza
anmarkos@gmail.com
ABN, African Biodiversity Network, July 2007, Agrofuels in Africa – The impacts on
land, food and forests, Case Studies from Benin, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia
Brown L.R., Water prices rising worldwide, March 2007,
http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2007/Update64.htm
Brown L.R., Massive diversion of U.S. grain to fuel cars is raising world food prices,
April 2007
http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2007/Update65.htm
Food and Agriculture Organisation, “Food Outlook (Global Market Analysis)” No. 1,
June 2007
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=35696&SESSION=891
http://foodcrisis.wordpress.com/2008/04/23/africas-food-shortage-knows-no-bounds/
http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/17566
http://www.agriculture.go.tz
http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ah864e/ah864e00.htm
http://www.ipcc.ch
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080423.WBwreguly20080423 085316/WBStory/WBwreguly
IFAD, Feb. 2008, Growing demand on agriculture and rising prices for commodities
IFPRI, 2008, Von Braun, Food prices, Biofuels, and Climate Change,
http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/speeches/20080228jvbriley.asp
IIED, 2007, Legal empowerment for local resources control
http://www.landcoalition.org/doc_video_photo/coalition.htm
IPCC, WGII, 4th Assessment Report, Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Apr, 2007
Mayorga L., 2007, Experiencia y perspectivas del biodiésel en Nicaragua,
http://www.lamolina.edu.pe/eventos/agricola/seminarios/biodiesel/#informes
Ministry of Energy and Minerals, 20th February 2008, WORKSHOP on “Sustainability Aspects of Jatropha Oils for biofuels Production, the assessment of a win-win situation”.
OECD, 2007, Biofuels: is the cure worse than the disease?
World Bank, 2008, Rising food prices: policy options and World Bank response
Background notes
Ziegler, 2007, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food