Last Updated- Mar 13, 2009 13:08 - - 1 Comment


NGOs raise red flag over biofuel industry in Ghana

biofuelSome non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are raising concerns about the biofuel industry in Ghana, warning  its development could endanger food security in the country.

The two NGOs, Actionaid Ghana and FoodSPAN have argued at a press conference in Accra that, if the industry is not regulated, the manner in which it is developing, could have severe consequencies on the country’s food security and environment.

According to a report prepared by the two groups, generally biofuel production is not entirely new in Ghana, as traditional use of fuelwood and cow-dung as domestic energy are examples.

However, the report said, the current trends in the biofuel production, with major policy thrust globally points to many motivations. For instance, biofuel production is gaining grounds in the developed and many developing countries as a result of energy crisis arising from conflicts in oil producing countries.

The high cost of fossil fuel is also giving rise to the quest for alternative energy source in biofuel. The most commonly espoused reason, the report said, for the production of biofuel is the issue of climate change resulting from the use of fossil fuel that emits pollutants with serious adverse environmental consequences.

The report however says biofuel production especially in developing countries entail the use of productive lands, and not marginal lands, at the expense of food production for food and livelihood security.

The use of food crops, such as maize, soya bean, sugarcane, oil palm, sorghum for biofuel production, also have serious implications for food security. Agricultural production, especially for food security stands to suffer from competition for other productive resources such as water, agro-chemicals, etc. Environmentally, clearing of forest and the destruction of biodiversity (or extinction of fauna and flora, wildlife), has implications for other community production activities, such as lack of grazing fields for animals, it said.

The groups report that there is an influx of foreign companies into the country, who are acquiring large tracts of land for large scale plantation of jatropha and sugarcane for biofuel production.

This they say, is resulting in the displacement of small scale farmers from their farm lands, destruction of forests, including economic trees and grazing lands. They argue that this may have unfavourable consequences for the livelihoods and food security among the communities where these projects are sited.

The study looked at three modes of biofuel production in Ghana such as the small holder production, community energy development and large-scale plantation models.

According to the groups, they have found that there is no policy on the sector in Ghana. They therefore, fear that the unregulated manner in which especially large scale cultivation of biofuels are being carried out by clearing of forest lands and economic trees such as shea and dawadawa trees, would affect the livelihoods of communities and the environment itself would be negatively affected by these activities.

The groups are therefore, calling on government to involve all stakeholders in the industry in discussions that would lead to a better understanding of the biofuels industry.

According to the groups, there should be collaborative efforts between the business, scientific, governmental communities, and civil society, to establish the appropriate standards and supporting technologies for biofuel production in Ghana to avoid the mistakes of the pioneer nations like Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia.

A number of foreign businesses from Brazil, Norway and Israel are already in Ghana and have started full scale cultivation of lands for the production of sugarcane and jatropha for the production of biofuels for export.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

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One Response to “NGOs raise red flag over biofuel industry in Ghana”

  1. Kojo on March 14th, 2009 1:58 pm

    There they go again being selective. Why not attack all cash crops including cocoa. NGos in Ghana are mouth pieces for massive western money laundering and corruption. They quoted Brazil, well when in the history of this country have they imported food or shortage of food. Indonesia only imported due to recent natural crisis. What you don’t get it Ghana grows way more food than we consume. Focus your efforts on not increasing production but rather increasing the effective yields per acre and better transportation. You get $100,000 for a project in Ghana and only use $1000 and write long useless documents on how you are helping a whole village. Biofuel like jatropha cultivation provides employment to the people not free food.

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