by Jieyi Lu (Environmental and Energy Study Institute)  Today, about three billion people still cook and heat their homes with traditional stoves and solid fuels worldwide. These fuels and stoves are major contributors to household air …

by Jeff Mulhollem (Penn State News)  Agroforestry could play an important role in mitigating climate change because it sequesters more atmospheric carbon in plant parts and soil than conventional farming, according to Penn State researchers.
An agricultural system …

by Louisa Burwood-Taylor (AgFunderNews)  “A lot of what’s needed in African agriculture is quite low-tech if tech at all,” says Gary Vaughan-Smith, chief investment officer at SilverStreet Capital, the agribusiness private equity firm.
SilverStreet has been investing in African …

by Susan van Dyk, Emile van Zyl, Brett Pletschke (International Energy Agency Bioenergy Task 39)  This short contribution provides some perspectives on opportunities for biofuel production on the African continent. Africa has a large land base, with …

Pius Rugonzibwa In Mwanza  (Daily News)  The production of cassava in the country has received a major boost after the government recently signed a deal with a Chinese firm worth over 2.5trl/- aimed at commercialising its …

by Kieron Monks (CNN)  Croton nut may be ideal fuel with high oil and protein concentration; Leading producers are expanding rapidly; Analysts say croton avoid ethical issues of other biofuels  —  The Croton megalocarpus tree is common throughout …

(Dow AgroSciences/Business Wire) Dow AgroSciences, Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University and Agriculture Victoria Working Together on Essential African Root Crop  —  More productive cassava plants, a root crop that is foundational for food security in Africa, …

by Gerald Andae (Business Daily Africa)  Mumias has been importing molasses — the raw material used in ethanol production — from Uganda for over eight months now but, has now extended this to Tanzania.
The loss-making …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Biofuels operations under the right conditions can lead to improved household food security in developing countries, concludes a new study.
Irish university research is adding to the body of knowledge …

(Oxfam)  The European Union must overhaul its current bioenergy policy, which is based on getting fuel from plants, because the industry is linked to the eviction of thousands of people from their lands, out-competing food …

by Kennedy Senelwa  (AllAfrica)  Lack of common standards for blending ethanol with petrol is limiting East Africa’s ability to use biofuels in reducing the carbon emissions from fossil fuels in the transport sector.
The growing demand …

(Project Gaia)  Ethanol fuel production represents a significant opportunity for economic and social development in the East African Community (EAC) region. Ethanol can be produced locally using a variety of feedstocks that can be selected based on …

by  Robert Sanders (UC Berkeley/Ethanol Producer Magazine)  A new analysis of the genetic diversity of cassava will help improve strategies for breeding disease resistance and climate tolerance into the root crop, a staple and major …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In South Africa, the Energy and Environment Partnership Programme with Southern and East Africa (EEP S&EA) is seeking high-quality applications for projects in the two regions that can contribute to the …

(merinews)  …  Giving the intensity of debate of food versus fuel debate, Naziz (Mintz-Habib)’s fascinating study explores how and in what circumstances Biofuel crops contribute to either perpetuating or alleviating poverty and food in security …

by Shelagh Whitley and Laurie van der Burg (New Climate Economy)  The research underpinning this New Climate Economy Working Paper was a major input into the 2015 New Climate Economy report and articulates the practical steps …

by Paul Wafula (Standard Digital News)  A sting operation conducted at Mumias Sugar Company premises has uncovered an elaborate network through which some of the firm’s employees have been colluding with rogue Kenya Revenue Authority …

by Terence Creamer (Engineering News)  … For Illovo, meanwhile, electricity generation forms part of a larger downstream diversification strategy, designed to lower the group’s reliance on sugar prices. Besides power, the JSE-listed group is also moving …

by Shankar Rampalli (Mordor Intelligence/Renewable Energy World)   The verdict on biofuels is in, and the catchphrase seems to be over-promised and under-delivered. Biofuels have been in public use in some form or the other for …

(Biofuels International)  Agro EcoEnergy has invested $550 million (€400 million) in sugarcane farming for an ethanol project.
The subsidiary of Swedish based EcoEnergy Africa AB has set up a special purpose project company, Bagamoyo EcoEnergy, to …

by Anna Locke and Giles Henley (Overseas Development Institute) • People worry that using crop-based biofuels to increase the volume of low-carbon fuels could worsen hunger in poor countries by pushing up global food prices and endangering local food …

by Gerald Andae  (Business Daily Africa)    The Kenya Sugar Board asks firms to start ethanol and electricity production in next two years.

Private and State-owned sugar millers that will not have started electricity generation and …

(SG Biofuels/Biodiesel Magazine)  …Through the use of new genetic technologies, SGB’s scientists have revealed that the company’s germplasm collection can be divided into a number of distinct heterotic clades, or genetically related groupings of plants. In …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In the Netherlands, PANGEA (Partners for Euro African Green Energy) is launching today a booklet outlining Myths and Facts about Bioenergy in Africa. The brochure is intended to demystify the …

by Justus Ochieng (AllAfrica)  THE Kisumu molasses plant will outsource for raw materials from Uganda and Tanzania to continue its operations. Insufficient supply of molasses has derailed operations at the company.
The plant had been closed …

The workshop is organised by NL Agency with the support of WIP Renewable Energies. The objective is to discuss and share experiences on current initiatives for the development of sound frameworks for bioenergy in African …

by Gerald Kitabu  (IPP Media)  The government of Tanzania has been urged to localise biofuel commercial production by empowering small farmers in terms of training, loans and marketing.
The call was made by Tanzanian researchers and …

by Ashery Mkama   (AllAfrica.com)   Villagers from Kilwa and Rufiji districts have requested the government to involve them in implementation of bio-fuel projects and investments in which huge tracts of land is used.
They told members …

(IPPMedia/The Guardian Reporter)  The government has been urged to reduce the maximum land size of each bio-fuel developer from the proposed 20,000 ha to 10,000 ha and give investors conditions which would enable them deliver.
Speaking …

by David Cronin (New Europe Online)  …The production of biofuels is a central factor behind the grabbing of land in Africa. Yet rather than using food crops, many of the players in this murky game …

(JOil)  • Tamil Nadu sites achieve first-year flowering in three months and first harvest in five months
• Field trials now being conducted in India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia
JOil (S) Pte. Ltd., a scientific bioenergy …

(Netzwerk Biotreibstoffe)  As a potential substitute for fossil fuels, wood energy can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. FAO’s programme on wood energy promotes sustainable wood energy systems as a contribution to sustainable forest management, livelihoods …

by Kevin Kelley (The East African)  A leading US environmental group is opposing the planned purchase of 325,000 hectares of land in Tanzania by an American company.
…Opponents charge that the deal amounts to a “land …

by Damian Carrington (The Guardian/The Observer)  The collapse of Sun Biofuels has left hundreds of Tanzanians landless, jobless, and in despair for the future
“People feel this is like the return of colonialism,” says Athumani Mkambala, chairman …

(Netzwerk Biotriebstoffe News)  Biofuel production is booming. Worldwide, production of ethanol for fuel has almost quintupled since 2000, while that of biodiesel has risen by almost 25 times. This is, in part, a response to policies …

by Finnigan Wa Simbeye    (AllAfrica.com)  An ambitious biodiesel project which was allocated over 8,000 hectares of land by Kisarawe district officials in 2008 is in trouble.
Employees and casual workers of Sun Biofuels Plc, told Business …

(The Daily News)  THE government has been warned against allocating over 320,000 hectares of prime land in Rukwa Region to an American agro-firm, Agrisol Energy, which is seeking to undertake large scale commercial farming for …

(AllAfrica.com)  The Muheza District-based Mlingano Agriculture Research Institute (ARI-Mlingano) is set to undertake a sisal characterisation programme aimed at developing a protocol for the production of ethanol and citric acid from liquid effluents.
The programme which …

by Joao Peixe  (OilPrice.com)  The bio-ethanol gel is an alternative biofuel developed by Consumer’s Choice Limited to reduce Kenya’s reliance on imported petroleum.
…Consumer’s Choice Limited developed a bio-ethanol gel made from molasses derived from sugarcane. …

by Niki Moore (Bloomberg)  Illovo Sugar Ltd. (ILV), Africa’s largest producer of the sweetener, plans to start making potable ethanol from molasses in Tanzania by 2013, Managing Director Graham Clark said.
“We have created an opportunity in …

(AllAfrica/The Citizen)  Tanzania is set to import ethanol from Brazil in its bid to lower fuel prices by 10 per cent.
This was said in Dar es Salaam over the weekend by Mr Leo Lyayuka, a …

by Damian Carrington and Stefano Valentino (The Guardian)  British firms have acquired more land in Africa for controversial biofuel plantations than companies from any other country, a Guardian investigation has revealed.
Half of the 3.2m hectares (ha) …

(AllAfrica.com)  Jatropha should not replace any crops in arable farms and instead should be cultivated by smallholder farmers as hedges for farms, an expert has warned.
Pamoja Inc Co-Director Jonathan Otto said in Dar es Salaam …

by Michael Haonga (IPP Media/The Guardian)  Tanzania has reaffirmed its commitment to sustain a multi-faceted strategy for harnessing power from various sources, including biofuel, to cover any shortfall.
The assurance was made in Dar es Salaam …

(The Citizen Reporter)  Tanzania urgently needs to put in place a policy framework to guide biofuel crops production and stave off the danger of serious food shortages in communities around biofuel plantations, a new study has …

by Beatrice Philamon (IPP Media)  Tanzanian and Brazilian experts are expected to carry out a countrywide survey to identify and propose strategic areas that would be allocated for biofuel farming.
“Our intention is to have special areas …

(EurekAlert)  Policies needed to address potential conflicts, but report views bioenergy as crucial to ‘unlocking Africa’s latent potential’.
Crops can be produced for bioenergy on a significant scale in west, eastern and southern Africa without doing …

(China Economic Net)  A huge potential for producing biofuels is expected in Tanzania without hampering the cultivation of food crops, according to a new study.
Conducted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently, the …

(AllAfrica.com)  Sun Biofuels, a British firm that has invested in jatropha plantations in Tanzania, envisages offering full time employment to 1,500 Tanzanians in its jatropha biofuel project at Kisarawe.
Of the 1,500 people, 400 are already …