Bioenergy production and food security in Africa

Abstract

Food and energy insecurities are the two greatest problems in Africa. Per capita energy consumption in Africa is less than 10% of that of United States of America while 18 out of 23 countries where starvation and malnutrition are most severe in the world are in Africa. Although various African governments have been making efforts to boast agricultural productivity, crop yields remain very low. Most governments do not even have accurate statistics on the number, location and types of crops produced by smallholder farmers that produce more than 80% of foods in Africa. This makes it very difficult to plan and implement any government support to the farmers. Sub-Saharan African countries have very high potential for production of different forms of bioenergy because the climatic conditions favour production of many energy crops. The big question has always been whether to produce bioenergy from food crops, especially in Africa with high acute food shortages. Large scale production of bioenergy may lead to competition with food crops for land, labour and other agricultural inputs. However, data from various sources indicate that Africa has abundant and underutilized arable land which can be effectively used for mass production of energy crops. Furthermore, shortage of labour cannot be a problem given the present very high rate of unemployment in most African countries. The benefits of bioenergy production in Africa outweigh the possible adverse effects on food security. Bioenergy production will create demand for, and stabilize the prices for crops, thereby increasing the earning of the farmers. This will in turn, facilitate industrialization in other sectors of economy through provision of affordable, renewable and clean energy. In order to minimize possible negative effects of bioenergy production on food security, land allocation for energy crop production can be regulated. Energy security cannot be separated from food security and the two should be seen as complimentary rather than as competitors.

Key words: Bioenergy production, food security, energy.