National African Farmers' Union hails South Africa's biofuel plan as victory for the poor

The government of South Africa is speeding up its plans to kickstart a biofuels industry that is set to benefit small farmers across the country. Once home to millions of displaced black South Africans, the former socalled 'Homelands' are expected to become the heart of the country's biofuels production.

Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Lulama Xingwana said the presidential commercial agricultural working group meeting held at Tuynhuys in Cape Town had mapped out about 3 million hectares of land on which crops would be grown for the production of biofuels.

The meeting, which was attended by President Thabo Mbeki, several ministers and representatives from agricultural organisations, had developed a biofuels strategy that aimed to produce 1 billion litres of biofuel a year (4.5 percent of the country's fuel consumption).

Attending the discussions, National African Farmers' Union (NAFU) president Motsepe Matlala, whose organisation represents over 45,000 small farmers across the country, heralded the meeting as a victory for the poor. Many small producers would benefit the most because of the low start-up costs involved. He said discussions had also brought land ownership for the poor one step closer to becoming a reality:
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Matlala was referring to the development of a mechanism that would see existing government finance programmes brought under one roof.

This, Xingwana said, would create "one-stop shopping" for farmers who were struggling to get started. Matlala said it would also speed up the process of getting finance and support from the government, which was critical for new farmers battling to find their feet.

Also present at the meeting was AgriSA president Lourie Bosman, whose organisation represents 70,000 small and large scale commercial farmers. He welcomed the move but said final planning had to be done quickly. "We need to be ready by July, otherwise farmers will lose out on another growing season."

He said while some farmers were already growing crops such as maize, sugarcane, sugar beet, soya and sunflowers for biofuel production, it was still largely for their own domestic use. Bosman said the addition of 3-million hectares of land for the purpose of growing biofuel crops would turn it into a recognised industry.