Mboweni counsels farmers against maize for fuel

Concerned the food shortages that might arise if maize farmers produce maize for ethanol, Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni implored Free State farmers to stick to food production, saying SA should follow Brazil’s example and produce ethanol from sugarcane
Issue date 17 August 2007

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Concerned the food shortages that might arise if maize farmers produce maize for ethanol, Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni implored Free State farmers to stick to food production, saying SA should follow Brazil’s example and produce ethanol from sugarcane. Addressing the National Assembly’s finance committee, expressed his concern that higher food prices stemming from a reduced maize supply might strain the current uncomfortable inflation rate. But ethanol production is a key driver in government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for SA. Agricultural economists have in the past pointed out that ethanol production would not be viable at the prices currently obtained for maize. They argued farmers would plant their regular food maize on high-potential land while marginal land would be used to cultivate maize for ethanol through cultivars developed for such purposes. Mboweni said Free State farmers were unlikely to sustain the supply of maize for human consumption and fuel production. – Staff reporter