Scratch patch’ land for biofuel

There is much potential for the production of crops for biofuel in the small pieces of communally owned land given to emerging farmers through the restitution process, says Rick Dillon, head of emerging agriculture at First National Bank. Speaking at a recent biofuels conference in Johannesburg, he added that these so-called “scratch patches” have a lot of potential as this land often has high production values. But Dillon warned that good agricultural practice (Gap) needs to be implemented to its optimum for these holdings to produce biofuel products successfully, saying sound management is key to success. “There is the tendency that because we deal with small pieces of land we can be inferior in Gap. This is a grave mistake,” he said. – Wilma den Hartigh