Biofuels feeding cars not people

The world has been in a debate about the "Food-vs-Fuel" topic for a long time, without conclusion, while people remain hungry, major farmable areas remain unutilised, landfills are growing and overflowing and a sustainable solution to generate power and energy is critically needed.

"This bioeconomy is the future. It means good jobs and higher incomes and new reliable crop markets. It also means cleaner, renewable energy and a reduced demand for fossil fuels. And this could mean all the difference to the people of Africa and the developing world. It is for this reason that Africa urgently needs the assistance of the World Bank and other investors to provide scarce capital to build local biofuels projects," says South African Biofuels Association (Saba) president Andrew Makenete.

WWF SA trade and investment programme manager Peet du Plooy argues that biofuels feed cars and not people and have the following downturns:

• food security being threatened
• food prices increasing
• water consumption increasing
• deforestation taking place

He agrees that bioenergy can alleviate poverty if it comes from a sustainable nonfood source using waste biomass for example to generate clean cooking fuels. If used locally to replace oil imports it can improve the resilience of the economy.