Linking bioenergy to policy

Lazarus Sauti

According to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency, the technical arm of the African Union Commission, Africa has a great opportunity to overcome its food and energy challenges, improve health conditions and boost economic growth in the coming decades only if the objectives of the United Nations declaration of 2012 as the Year of Sustainable Energy for All (SE4A) are achieved.

NEPAD further states that available statistics show that the continent is the most prone to food shortages which devastate millions of people yearly.

With a population of 800 million, which is expected to reach 1.2 billion in 2050, lifting the African population out of poverty by achieving food security and well-being will not be fulfilled without energy security.

“Although Sub-Saharan Africa encompasses only 12 percent of the world’s population, 60 percent of Africans do not have access to electricity and clean cooking facilities,” Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of the NEPAD Agency says.

This means African countries need to progressively move away from the use of fossil fuels and increase the share of renewable energy sources in their total energy mix.

Along with solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal, bioenergy would, therefore, play a major role in the coming decades in countries within and across Africa where more than 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas and in the suburbs. This is so because, according to Professor Emile van Zyl of the University of Stellenbosch, Africa has the potential to be a major player alongside Brazil in the biofuels trade if it applies modern technology.

Moreover, bioenergy has clear potential to be developed in ways that contribute positively to meeting challenges associated with an interconnected set of issues involving poverty, food security, economic development, gender issues, health, and energy security.

A vision for bioenergy in Africa that is responsive to African challenges is both an urgent need and an important opportunity.

African countries must, therefore, invest heavily in bioenergy. To effectively benefit from it, bioenergy and food security need to be linked to policy because if approached with the proper policies, bioenergy can greatly benefit agriculture and other critical sectors in the African continent.

The United Nations concurs and calls for strong coordinated food, biofuel and bioenergy policies that prevent biofuels from compromising international food security.

According to a report “Biofuels and Food Security”, produced by Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition in June last year, the United Nations calls for coordinated food, biofuel and bioenergy policies that prevent biofuels from compromising international food security.

Furthermore and commenting on “Mapping Food and Bioenergy: report in 2010, lead author Dr Rocio Diaz-Chavez observed: “If approached with the proper policies and processes and with the inclusion of all the various stakeholders, bioenergy is not only compatible with food production; it can also greatly benefit agriculture in Africa.

“Bioenergy production can bring investments in land, infrastructure, and human resources that could help unlock Africa’s latent potential and positively increase food production.”

More so, the report argues that national biofuel policies should sit within a broader combined food security and energy security strategy that uses ratified certification schemes to ensure sustainable production.

African countries, therefore, need to mainstream bioenergy into their food and energy security agendas. Furthermore, they must invest in research and development to improve energy efficiencies and establish the viability of ‘second-generation’ fuels made from cellulose or lignin rather than foodstuffs.

This is because research and development into bioenergy for heating and cooking is particularly important for the developing world, as nutrition is highly dependent on energy security.

David Laborde, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, agrees on the need for research and development but argues that money should be channelled towards local solutions.

“Indeed there is need for research and development in order to improve bioenergy in developing nations but money should be spent on developing tailored energy feed stocks and processing technologies for individual countries so they can deal with local conditions and develop local solutions,” explains Laborde, adding that developing nations need coordination of food and energy policies within and among countries.

Since Africa is the continent where the most should happen in bioenergy, to do nothing is not an option. Therefore, African countries should invest in bioenergy and effectively design policies that ensure food security for the continent and her citizenry.

Strong policies should ensure resources are channelled towards developing tailored processes that ensure effective eradication of problems bedevilling the African continent.