With Colombia and Argentina as a Base, Experts Highlight Potential of Biodiesel in Latin America and the Caribbean

(Clarin (Google translation)) Jens Mesa Dishington, executive president of Fedepalma and Luis María Zubizarreta, president of Acsoja and Carbio, called for the promotion of biodiesel production in the region. -- In a forum organized by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Jens Mesa Dishington, executive president of FEDEPALMA and IICA Goodwill Ambassador, and Luis María Zubizarreta, president of ACSOJA and CARBIO, called for the promotion of the production of biodiesel in the region.

The Colombian biofuel industry has been developing for a decade and in this time it has managed to be part of the country's energy matrix and export part of its production, a success that lies in the public policies from which it was born, according to the president Executive of the National Federation of Oil Palm Growers of Colombia (FEDEPALMA) and Goodwill Ambassador of IICA, Jens Mesa Dishington.

Mesa explained that in his country they decided to incorporate 10 percent of palm oil-based biofuel into regular hydrocarbons. Today, in addition to promoting the vehicle fleet with a sustainable source, they have managed to create a market -including in Europe- for by-products of the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

Biodiesel is the main destination for palm oil in Colombia and provides more than 184 thousand direct jobs.

"We have experienced growth in palm planting where coca crops used to exist," he added.

Mesa and the president of the Association of the Soybean Chain of Argentina (ACSOJA) and of the Argentine Chamber of Biofuels (CARBIO), Luis María Zubizarreta, explained the existing relationships between the production of biodiesel and its impacts on value chains palm farming in Colombia and soybeans in Argentina.

In Argentina, the industry was born in 2007 and there were quickly investments that increased production capacity . In 2017 they enacted a mandatory 10% cutoff law and currently they want to move towards a higher proportion cutoff.

Argentines take advantage of the technological strength of their agriculture and have become the main soybean producer in the world, an aspect used to allocate part of the harvest to the production of biofuels.

Both specialists assured that far from the stigmas that to produce biofuels it is necessary to cut down forests and reduce the availability of food, this market has a high degree of technicality that ensures responsible production with the environment and allows increasing the productive capacity of the soil.

“Sustainability is a differentiating factor in Colombian palm oil production, this is our added value. Most of the crops in Colombia have been in places without risk of deforestation ”, clarified Jens Mesa.

“If there is idle or unproductive land, it is because capital investment has been lacking. In Latin America and the Caribbean, many policies on land, taxes and employment must be corrected to condition them and allow capital to flow to start competitive businesses such as biofuels, ”said Zubizarreta. READ MORE