Kenya makes key step to tap into biofuels market

Ms Canney says the use of bio-fuels could help in engineering even deeper social change as people reap the benefits of having a regular and renewable supply of energy that is closer to their homes.

Kenya largely depends on a centralised power generation and distribution system that serves less than 10 per cent of households and is mainly concentrated in towns.

Localised biofuel production could compliment this centralised system and boost the country’s ranking in terms of access to clean fuels by helping families to produce energy that fits their needs, say experts.

Critics warn

Kenya has mainly relied on two sources of bio-fuels technology — bioethanol that mainly uses the by-products of sugar processing such as molasses as its main feedstock and biodiesel that comes from oil seed bearing trees such as jatropha curcas, croton megalocarpus, and cape chestnut.

But critics of the biofuel craze have warned that it also poses the danger of sparking natural resource based conflict over scarce water and land as well as cause loss of diversity.

Such risks, say advocates, could be better managed with the establishment of a national policy on biofuels production that is realistic to the various localities in terms of the population, access to water and topography.

It is unfortunate, says Mr Muok, that Kenya’s move towards a biofuels energy-driven economy has been characterised by a lack of direction whose impact has been the failure to create a market.

Having a policy will not only ensure strong social and environmental safeguards but also protect peoples’ investments at the community level, says Ms Canney.

Left without information relating to the suitability of areas, conditions and management practices, enthusiasm for biofuels among many farmers who experimented with the new crops such as Jatropha is waning.

A biofuels policy should also provide for research and development in the sector for informed and optimal production.

A national committee set up to work on the policy says it has a draft that has been written with the input of local players backed by case studies from Brazil , the United States of America Asia, and India.

“We hope to have a policy in place not far in the future,” a committee member said.