Professor Kader Asmal, the former Water Affairs and Forestry minister, predicts the introduction of biofuel production to Africa would have a decimating impact on our water resources. “is already a water-stressed country and biofuel production has been found to use seven times more water than ordinary food production,” explained Prof Asmal, adding that water is the oil of the 21st century, but unlike oil, water has no substitute.
M urray Campbell, CEO of First United Ethanol, however, said that in reality, it takes 44 gallons (167â„“) of water to refine a gallon (3 785â„“) of gasoline, while it takes three to four gallons (11â„“ to 15â„“) to refine a gallon of (3 785â„“) ethanol. In response to claims that biofuel production is causing food prices to rise, Campbell stated that ethanol only contributed 3,3% to a food price hike and that this doesn’t take into account the positive effect biofuels have in keeping the price of gasoline down.
Dries Joubert, a farmer and member of TAU SA, added that biofuel production doesn’t require that much water, especially not if dry-land production is being used. water used during the refinery process could also be recycled. A recent report entitled Biofuels and the Implications for Agricultural Water Use: Blue Impacts of Green Energy prepared by Charlotte de Fraiture, Mark Giordano and Yongsong Liao from the International Water Institute, estimates biofuel crops to account for only around 1% (100km³) of the water used for agricultural production. But there is a large regional variation in areas where rain-fed crops are used and the extent of irrigation for biofuel crops is negligible.
The authors predict resource usage – in terms of land and water – will only increase by between 2% and 5% by 2030, if all national policies and plans for biofuel are successfully implemented. That means that 30 million additional hectares of crop land will be needed along with 180km³ of additional irrigation water. he amount of water needed in some countries such as China and India could be significantly more. The report concludes that the introduction of yeast and enzymes will render biofuel production more cost- and water-efficient in future.
Wessel Lemmer, an economist at Grain SA, added that the inclusion of maize into the South Africa’s biofuel strategy could actually contribute to food security. Maize production is extremely volatile as farmers continuously adjust hectares planted according to market prices. Many farmers might feel high input costs don’t justify production and plant something else. If maize were incorporated into the biofuel strategy then surpluses that are now exported could be used locally, positively impacting on prices achieved for maize. Joubert added that biofuel production doesn’t necessarily threaten food security. “Jatropha could be produced on marginal lands unsuitable for biofuel production,” he explained. “However, by producing our own fuel, we will actually contribute to food security as there is a direct link between input costs and oil prices.”
Lemmer and Joubert feel a lot of water is wasted in South Africa, but water used for biofuel production would not only bring economic benefit to farmers, but also help to create more employment opportunities and help to reduce our dependence on fuel imports. “Instead of using so much water in gardens for cosmetic purposes, as well as for toilets, government should look into ways that would use water more efficiently and cost-effectively,” said Joubert. “Biofuel is one such project.” – Glenneis Erasmus
