Upsetting the Balance
In Tanzania, as in many countries in Africa, thousands of acres of arable land are being re-allocated for biofuel production. Global demand for biofuels has grown at a rate of more than 30 percent a year as the price of oil has fluctuated, leading government leaders to hand more land over to biofuel investors with little concern about upsetting the balance between land for food and land for fuel. In Tanzania, as the government continues to make deals for outside investors, more and more land will be used for fuel instead of food, displacing rural farming communities and ultimately leading to greater food insecurity. If this rapid and unchecked biofuels development continues, an increasing number of people will be unable to feed their families and sustain their livelihoods.
Protests Lead to Policy Development
Until recently, biofuel development in Tanzania was not subject to government monitoring. However, the situation has reached such a point that recent protests by local environmental groups and civil society have led to a suspension of all current and future biofuel development until clear policies are defined. This precedent-setting decision followed an article in a regional newspaper reporting that over 5,000 of Tanzania’s rice farmers would be evicted to make space for biofuel production.
There are already over 40 large biofuel companies operating in Tanzania; most are growing a crop called jatropha, a hedge-like plant considered by investors to be the best candidate for future large-scale biofuel production. However, a recent report produced by Greengrants’ Southern Africa advisor Anabela Lemos’ organization, Justiça Ambiental (Environmental Justice), dispels the myths and demonstrates why large-scale jatropha plantations are not necessarily the food-safe, miracle solution they are purported to be. Corporate investors claim that jatropha can grow on marginal land, is resistant to disease and pests, and requires little water. Justiça Ambiental’s report, based on research in Mozambique—another country in Africa with growing biofuel concerns—debunks these claims.
Leading the charge for greater transparency and monitoring of biofuel investments in Tanzania is Greengrants’ East Africa Advisory board member Loyce Lema’s organization, the Environmental, Human Rights Care and Gender Organisation (Envirocare). Envirocare has been working diligently to pressure the government to pay attention to the human and environmental impacts of the biofuel investments it has promoted so heavily.
Large Scale versus Small Scale
While large-scale corporate investments in jatropha eat up land and displace local people, growing the crop on a small scale can provide economic opportunities for villages and individual families. A $5,500 grant enabled the Tumaini Women’s Group in Tanzania to harvest jatropha seeds to make biofuels and soap to sell within the community. This group works to promote energy efficiency, food security, and the protection of the environment. While small-scale jatropha production may be a sustainable solution for rural communities, it is the large-scale corporate production that threatens to upset the delicate balance farmers face in providing both income and food for their families.
The Future of Food Security
A changing climate and a lack of water, compounded with the corporate acquisition of arable land, leave Africa’s subsistence farmers in a tenuous position. As Tanzania, Mozambique, and other countries move forward in developing their biofuel investment policies, groups like Justiça Ambiental, Envirocare, and other Greengrants grantees (see below links) are advocating for the inclusion of policies that protect rural farmers from displacement, preserve subsistence farming, and find small-scale ways to create economic opportunities around biofuels. The Tanzanian government’s forthcoming policies will hopefully set a precedent for transparency and accountability around biofuel investments in Africa and give Greengrants grantees and other environmental groups a new platform from which to protect rural farmers and their rights to land, food, and ultimately survival.
Click on the links below to learn about the impacts of biofuels in other African countries:
Nigeria
Uganda
To read a New York Times blog on the suspension of investments, click here.
For background on the issue from The East African newspaper, click here.