DR Congo debates its enormous biofuels potential

 

June 11, 2008

 

The Democratic Republic of Congo is debating the pros and cons of its enormous untapped agricultural potential, in particular for the production of biofuels.

 

Surprisingly, the country's stakeholders are rather optimistic about what biofuels can do for Congo's development.

The DRC, a country the size of Western Europe, is a nation full of contradictions: on the one hand its 56 million inhabitants face the highest malnutrition level in the world, with over 70 per cent of the population being badly nourished or living in hunger; on the other hand, the DRC has one of the largest capacities to grow agricultural products, with tens of millions of hectares of unused land on which highly productive crops can be grown. On the one hand, Congo imports most of its food from the EU, Latin America and Asia, while on the other nearly 50 per cent of its own population are farmers making less than half a dollar a day.

According to agricultural experts, the DRC alone has the agro-ecological capacity to grow food for 2 to 3 billion people. It currently uses less than 5 per cent of its potential arable land. With investments in modern agriculture, the country could thus feed all the new people that will be born between today and 2050 (when the planet will have a population of around 9 billion). The FAO says a very large portion of this potential is highly suitable for the production of sustainable energy crops.

So what do the Congolese themselves think of their biofuels opportunity and the risks that go with it? They convened a roundtable, coordinated by the Réseau de Promotion de la Démocratie et des Droits Economiques et Sociaux (PRODDES), supported by the NGO 'Solidarité socialiste'. Present at the debate were experts of WWF, academics from the University of Kinshasa, policy makers of the Ministry of Agriculture and civil society organisations.

The tone at the conference about biofuels was surprisingly positive and optimistic. This can be partly explained by the country's struggle with food production and the disastrous effects of high oil prices.

Congo's hunger problem has worsened sharply because of extremely high fuel prices. Oil products have to be shipped inland to farmers (who make up nearly half of all Congolese), which adds to the already high costs. Rural communities who farm to sell cash crops to the cities are thus struggling to produce food (which requires fuel) and to get their products to market (transport costs have become prohibitive). Once the food has arrived in the cities, it is too expensive for most Congolese. The perverse effect of this situation is that cities import subsidized food from the international market instead - from Europe, the US, Latin America or Asia. 

Meanwhile, millions of local Congolese farmers are left in poverty or are forced to migrate to the swelling cities in search of better jobs. This massive trek from rural areas to the urban centres is crippling agriculture and making the country more dependent on international markets for its food and fuels.

Locally produced biofuels can turn this catastrophic situation around, said Alain Rousseaux, coordinator of the Dutch Development Organisation which attended the meeting. Farming communities, who face not the slightest shortage of land, can grow their own fuel, thus limit their food production costs and bring the products to market at a far lower cost than if they were to rely on ultra-costly diesel and gasoline.
Likewise, the expensive fossil energy required to process food would be replaced by far less costly biofuels and bioenergy:

Assuming oil prices stay high, biofuels could also lower the threat of inflation, as fuel is used in all productive sectors of the economy, driving up prices of all products and services. By providing cheaper fuels - and Congo has the agro-ecological potential for the most efficient energy crops - all sectors of the economy would benefit.

The country is also attracting more and more investments in the sugar and palm oil industries. The 'flex factory' model capable of producing both oils and biodiesel, or both ethanol and sugar (as in Brazil), would be very efficient. Moreover, large waste streams from processing sugar cane (bagasse) and palm oil kernels (empty fruit bunches, press cakes, empty shells) that are now left to rot or that are burned off and contribute to climate change, could be used to produce renewable and cost-effective electricity.

Organic waste products from the existing beer and food factories could be used as well for the production of biogas, which can be used for power or as a vehicle fuel.

On the level of the state, biofuels offer many benefits as well. Congo is one of the countryies who, according to the UN, are experiencing the following disastrous situation:

Recent oil price increases have had devastating effects on many of the world's poor countries, some of which now spend as much as six times as much on fuel as they do on health. Others spend twice the money on fuel as they do on poverty alleviation. And in still others, the foreign exchange drain from higher oil prices is five times the gain from recent debt relief.

The UN's statement was made when oil stood at $70 a barrel. One can only wonder what the state of affairs is with oil at today's $127pb.

Danny Singoma, permanent secretary of the PRODDES said a delegation of the network will shortly visit the terrain to get a sense of opportunities and risks on the ground. The city of Mbandaka, located centrally on the Congo River and the towns in Bandundu province, who produce food for the megacity of Kinshasa, will be visited. These field-trips will result in a report containing policy recommendations for the Ministry of Agriculture.

It seems like the DRCongo is in a pretty similar situation as Brazil. It has huge land resources, a forest that should be protected, a large rural population, and the capacity to grow very efficient energy crops. Biofuels and bioenergy produced in the country would be low cost and highly competitive with current oil and electricity prices, and thus benefit the nation's economic development. What is more, biofuels could actually improve the life of farmers and make them more resilient, as well as making food less costly for the urban populations.

References:
Congoforum: RDC : débat sur les agro-carburants face au spectre de la crise alimentaire - June 5, 2008.

Biopact: UN's FAO: bright future for sustainable biofuels DR Congo - January 08, 2008

IPS: "Landbouw kan Congolese economie lanceren" - February 22, 2008.

Biopact: New Congo government identifies bioenergy as priority for industrialisation - May 03, 2007

Biopact: High oil prices disastrous for developing countries - September 12, 2007




--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID : Kayisa66