Biofuels in Tanzania: Status, Opportunities and Challenges

Anthony M. Mshandete.J. Appl. Biosci. 2011. Biofuels in Tanzania: Status, Opportunities and challengesproduction of Jatropha in Tanzania is 80% private, 56%plantation and 22% mixed (GEXSI, 2008). It is thespread of these large-scale operations, which is drivingmany of the social and environmental concerns aboutbiofuel production in Africa (Scott, 2009) and inTanzania at present (Sulle & Nelson, 2009a).Plantation agriculture is often based on monoculture ofa single variety or cultivar, which increases risks ofpests and disease impacts, necessitating intensivemanagement with tillage, fertilizers, pesticides,herbicides and other chemical inputs (RSB-GUI, 2009).Details of classification criteria for development ofbiofuels in Tanzania, features of productionmodel/drawbacks and reasons for production modelhave been reported elsewhere (Messemaker, 2008;Martin et al., 2009; Sulle & Nelson, 2009a). Table 4summarizes production models, productionarrangement, status and challenges of existing,prospective and emerging biofuel crops productionarrangement in Tanzania.Players and institutions involved in biofuels inTanzania: The motivations for governments toaggressively pursue biofuel development are complexand multidimensional since it entails exploitation of fourprincipal resources namely; land, forests, waterresources and labour (Kamanga, 2008). To ensure thesustainability of biofuels enterprise and those fourstrategic important resources, different countries of theworld are developing their national strategies on biofueldevelopment to include environmental and socialcriteria/aspects, which are intricately interrelated.Biofuels can be regarded as integral part of emergingbio-economy with great development expected tocome especially for those countries like Tanzania withagriculture as the main activity. Production of liquidbiofuels; bioethanol and biodiesel in Tanzania is newand still in its infancy stage. Nevertheless, the biofuelindustry has attracted a wide range of investors.Besides a handful of local firms, foreign firms fromEurope, USA, Japan and the Far East dominate thebiofuel development initiative and investment(s) mainlyoften with the intention to export. This is oftenimplicated mainly to the fact that Tanzania as adeveloping country lacks the necessary technology forthe production of biofuels and capital investment. Tothat effect the country currently encourages foreigninvestment in biofuels and the likelihood of foreigninvestors dominating the industry is a clear reality. Theforeign biofuel industry dominance and impact inTanzania should not be underestimated but be taken aspolicy pointer since their dominance in local economiesmay also limit opportunities to negotiate equitableinclusion. The roles of different actors/players inTanzania are summarized in Table 5.2686