In the wake of climate change and increasing fossil fuel prices, biofuels are becoming attractive to agricultural dependent economies in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions of the world. This study evaluates the ener...In the wake of climate change and increasing fossil fuel prices, biofuels are becoming attractive to agricultural dependent economies in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions of the world. This study evaluates the energy production potential of biomass resources grown on the available arable agricultural land under two principal scenarios: using 2.5% and 5% of the available arable land for energy crop expansion. Using conservative biofuel yields from crops in the sub-region, a 2.5% of uncultivated arable land dedicated to four traditional crops grown in Ghana namely maize, cassava, sweet sorghum and oil palm could potentially replace 9.3% and 7.2% of transportation fuels by 2020 and 2030 respectively. Using 5% of the uncultivated arable land to cultivate the above four crops and jatropha could potentially produce biofuel to replace 17.3% of transport fuels by 2020 and 13.3% by 2030. In order to enrol such a scheme, government is encouraged to put in place appropriate structures to ensure that, the industry meet international sustainability standards.展开更多
文摘In the wake of climate change and increasing fossil fuel prices, biofuels are becoming attractive to agricultural dependent economies in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions of the world. This study evaluates the energy production potential of biomass resources grown on the available arable agricultural land under two principal scenarios: using 2.5% and 5% of the available arable land for energy crop expansion. Using conservative biofuel yields from crops in the sub-region, a 2.5% of uncultivated arable land dedicated to four traditional crops grown in Ghana namely maize, cassava, sweet sorghum and oil palm could potentially replace 9.3% and 7.2% of transportation fuels by 2020 and 2030 respectively. Using 5% of the uncultivated arable land to cultivate the above four crops and jatropha could potentially produce biofuel to replace 17.3% of transport fuels by 2020 and 13.3% by 2030. In order to enrol such a scheme, government is encouraged to put in place appropriate structures to ensure that, the industry meet international sustainability standards.
