The Global Agricultural Information Network’s (GAIN’s) annual report states that South Africa’s biofuels strategy recognises sugar cane as one of the best feedstocks for renewable energy; however, investment in the development of a bioethanol plant for this process is not picking up pace.

The GAIN is the US Department of Agri- culture’s foreign agriculture service reposi- tory for information collected by service officers, who report on agriculture of over 130 countries.

The reason for the lack of investment is a result of the strategy of exclusion of existing sugar and cane producers from the initiative, which aims to promote farming in areas that were previously neglected, as well as the current economic environment.

The report suggests that South Africa still does not have a workable biofuels project from virgin material, despite many policy statements, plans for projects, debates and workshops over the last few years. During December 2007, the South African Cabinet approved a national biofuels industrial strategy. The new strategy is driven predo- minantly by the need to tackle issues of poverty, rural development and black- economic empowerment (BEE).

This policy is an attempt to achieve a development balance between previously disadvantaged farming areas and commercial farming areas. Biofuels plant investment must also have a strong BEE shareholding, be a catalyst for the transformation of rural economies and contribute to the government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (Asgisa). Asgisa originated from government’s commitment to halve unemployment and poverty by 2014.

The strategy adopted a short-term focus, which is a five-year pilot, to achieve a 2% penetration level of biofuels in the national liquid fuel supply, or 400-million litres a year. This will contribute 30% to the national renewable-energy target for 2013. The proposed blending ratio is B2, or 2% bio- diesel, and E8, or 8% bioethanol.

The new strategy recommends sugar cane and sugar beet for bioethanol production, and soya bean, canola and sunflower as feedstock for biodiesel. The reports states that this has resulted in a strong reaction from agriculture and industry groups because of the exclusion of corn as feedstock for ethanol production. The use of corn was excluded amid concerns over food security and fears of price increases.

There are, however, a few biofuels projects in the pipeline. The State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Central Energy Fund (CEF) plan to start two biofuels projects worth more than R3,2-billion. The first project will be located near Cradock, in the Eastern Cape, where sugar beet will be used to produce about 90-million litres a year of biofuels. The second project is located near Hoedspruit, in Mpumalanga, and aims aim to produce 100-million litres of fuel from sugar cane.

The IDC and the CEF are also evaluating the viability of producing 150-million litres of biofuel from sugar cane in Pondoland, which spans the KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape provinces. These three projects will produce nearly enough biofuels to achieve government’s goal of a 2% penetration of biofuels in the national liquid fuel supply by 2012.

In the interim, South Africa will soon receive ethanol from Mozambique. Inter- national renewable-energy company Principle Energy is currently establishing a biofuels project in Dombe, Mozambique. The project covers 23 000 ha, and about 20 000 ha will be allocated for irrigated sugar cane. The report points out that the site is charac- terised by plentiful water for irrigation, fertile soils, and an excellent climate for superior sugar cane yields.

The facility focuses on the conversion of up to 2,5-million tons of sugar cane to 65- million gallons of ethanol and about 13 MW of exportable electrical power. The project is expected to employ over 1 600 people at maturity, and to support the development of numerous tertiary-related business opportunities in the Dombe community, as well as provide additional employment and local economic opportunities.

A five-year biofuels research programme was recently established at the University of Stellenbosch. This programme, which is worth R2-million a year, aims to develop completely new technologies, particularly in the bioethanol field, as well as to adapt new and existing technologies to South African conditions.

Technology development for commercial biofuels production will focus on five key areas: the process development of producing biodiesel from various virgin and waste vegetable oils; second-generation technolo- gies for the fermentation of starch and ethanol from maize, sweet sorghum, wheat and triticale; research on sugar beet; and exploring the possibility of using plant biomass, which is the most abundant source of carbon in nature, as feedstock for bio- fuels production by biochemical and thermochemical conversion. The fifth area of focus is the integration of biofuels and high-value chemical production into a single biorefinery, where a range of substrates and products can be combined based on the requirements of a particular local industry and region, as well as the process modelling to produce bioethanol, biodiesel, bio-oil, and other clean alternatives, such as hydrogen and methanol, from biomass.