Beyond the hype for and activism against biofuel development in Ethiopia.
According to the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MoME), Ethiopia spends annually 8.6 billion Birr on oil imports for use in transport, industry, agriculture, household and other social services. This corresponds to around 87% of the total export revenue of the country. As its economy and population grow, the import expenditure is expected to increase significantly.
Hence, developing biofuels within the perspectives of saving this huge foreign currency expenditure is more than welcome for Ethiopia’s sustainable economic growth. The issue is not if Ethiopia should embark on biofuel development. It is how to develop it.
The Biofuel Development and Use Strategy (BDUS) crafted by MoME identifies jatropha curcas, castor bean and palm oil as suitable resources for biodiesel production with a lion’s share of the focus on jatropha. It is stated that more than 23 million hectares of land is available for biofuel development. Sugarcane is the only feedstock mentioned
in the BDUS as a source of ethanol fuel. Ethiopia has around 700,000
hectares of land for sugarcane plantations.
There are two forces in the biofuel debate in Ethiopia as elsewhere. On one hand, there are those who are advertising biofuel as a remedy to all ills of Ethiopia. On the other hand, there are those who are opposing everything about biofuel. This contribution is about highlighting the challenges and utilizing the opportunities of biodiesel and ethanol within the Ethiopian context.
CHALLENGES TO TACKLE
Cultivation of jatropha doesn’t compete with food production. This is true as long as it is cultivated in non-productive areas and barren land. The government’s figure is not clear as to the detailed location and type of the over 23 million hectares of land mentioned. Specifically, the majority (17 million hectares in Oromia) mentioned in the BDUS is far from being barren land. Hence, land use planning where each and every hectare is zoned for the purpose it fits well is very crucial. Otherwise Ethiopia risks misallocation of land.
On the ethanol side, sugarcane is known for its high consumption of water. It is important to carry out specific water supply studies around the areas that are considered for sugarcane cultivation.Even though jatropha gives the merit of being produced on marginal land and unproductive farmland, more water increases yield. It is thus vital to characterize how much water can be put aside for higher yielding jatropha from the surrounding surface and groundwater without jeopardizing the short and long term supply of water to other functions in the locality.
The scale and type of jatropha plantation arrangement is crucial for economic, social, and ecological reasons. Small-scale development will create room for farmers to play the role of outgrowers and owners of the full supply chain covering not only the plantation but also the processing of oil into biodiesel. Depending on access to market and transport infrastructure, there is also a need to develop an optimal portion of large-scale plantations to justify development of associated infrastructure. There should be a good balance between them.
Equally important is the need for stakeholders in the biofuel business to develop plantations in such a way that sprouting of monocultures is avoided. This caution is both from an ecological perspective as well as the stability of local ecosystems in terms of resistance against species-specific damages.
The aforementioned aspects were related to the production part. From the economic and social development of Ethiopia and in the grand mission of pulling millions out of poverty, the use part of the biofuel produced is of paramount importance. In this regard priority should be given to current and future domestic supply of fuels to households, the transport sector, industries and agriculture, not to export.
OPPORTUNITIES OF ACTING HOLISTICALLY
A situation where Ethiopia substitutes its import of one billion litres of diesel and the 150 million litres of petrol with a local resource where millions are employed as wells as benefiting from its use is of unprecedented advantage. The saving resulting from this import substitution can be invested in social services as well as developing capacity in biofuel development.
The success of the famous Brazilian Ethanol programme is not limited to import substitution. After a considerable experience, it has resulted in an enhanced export possibility of know-how as well as ethanol exports after meeting local demands. Ethiopia has the opportunity to ensure the security of its energy supply in such a way that it prevails against all odds of global price and supply shocks.
Once micro-refineries and micro-distilleries flourish as reliable sources of biofuel a range of equipments such as cooking stoves, irrigation pumps, community power generators, and tractors that run on ethanol and biodiesel can be either developed or marketed locally. This will be the harbinger of small-scale green industrial development in the country.
Greening of desert and marginal areas in the country has a multidimensional positive effect. Jatropha suits this purpose as it has a deep root system which prevents soil erosion and increases water storage in the soil thereby leading to more biomass growth. The latter brings about an accumulation of organic carbon in the soil.
An issue that seems to not be well taken or rather underestimated in the BDUS and in related discussions is the household level use of ethanol in rural and urban Ethiopia. A household shifting from wood to ethanol triggers a range of positive effects within and outside the household. Obviously the use of wood as fuel for centuries has had a negative chain of problems: deforestation, soil erosion, loss of agricultural productivity, burden on children and women who (more often than not) collect firewood from distant areas; deprivation of children’s and women’s time for schooling.
Besides, burning firewood is the most inefficient use of energy. Just as an example, injera which accounts for over 50% of all energy consumption in the country and for over 90% of all household energy consumption, is dominantly baked in all rural areas and in urban poor on a three stone fire with firewood, dung and leaves with an efficiency of fuel conversion of less than 7%. Replacing kerosene in urban areas and firewood in both rural and urban areas by ethanol is an improvement in terms of reducing respiratory and other health problems related to black carbon. Well designed stoves that use locally produced ethanol conversely results in a chain of positive effects.
SOME UNCERTAINTIES AND THE ROLE OF STAKEHOLDERS
With regard to the yield of jatropha there are varying figures from as low as around 600 to as high as over 3,000 litres of oil per hectare. Yield and agronomic researches are still going on in different parts of the world, as jatropha hasn’t been domesticated yet.
According to the 2007 issue of the renowned Nature, its yield is not predictable, the conditions that best suit its growth are not well defined and the potential environmental impacts of large scale cultivations are not understood at all. The optimum water amount is still unknown.
The current prioritization of biodiesel and fuel ethanol should also be complemented with promotion of biogas solutions that simultaneously take care of waste problems. The BDUS should be followed by development of directives with milestones and targets that can be used to ensure transformation into a sustainable energy system together with improved energy efficiency at different levels. The targets cover the timeframe for increasing and expanding the recently started ethanol blending and introduction of biodiesel blending and flex fuel vehicles.
In dealing with associated uncertainties, the first phases of the national biofuel development should be done by the government and local communities rather than by foreign companies in the same way as the government of India. The government should encourage the sector with various incentives like local social networks such as edir, tsiwa mahiber, and cooperatives to participate from nursery to production and marketing. Furthermore, once land is given to an investor even in an appropriate way, there should be a mechanism for regular monitoring of the development.
Local industries should develop capacity on the level of plantation and oil processing for small-scale plants and biodiesel refineries should be developed locally. Clusters of micro-refineries and micro-distilleries can be integrated with other economic and social investments at the community level. NGOs can help establish ways of organizing farmers and local communities to have access to microfinance and provision of access to market. In some areas, the core objective of jatropha development should be greening of barren land while in other areas, multi-purpose projects must create reliable sources of income for rural residents and energy self-sufficiency for small communities.
The overall biofuel development will benefit from a flexible arrangement that responds to market changes and feedstock varieties. Modular approach where the use of biofuels in important public sectors is promoted is beneficial. In India, for example, there is a grand goal of supplying the diesel-run trains with biodiesel. At the end of the day the crucial factor for Ethiopia’s sustainable biofuel development will be to engage both pro and con sides of the debate and synthesize the views towards a policy framework that ensures the widest spread benefits. ::
Editor's Note: Dr. Getachew heads the biofuel department of Sustainable Africa in The Netherlands. www.sustainable-africa.org
