Welcome to AfricaBiofuel.com

Clean, Sustainable Development in the Kagera Region of Tanzania

Our African biofuel is derived from the indigenous oil-bearing tree, Croton megalocarpus (Haya name: muhihi). This tree grows robustly in semi-arid climates on marginal lands, produces 25-50 kg seeds annually with 32% oil content. Beginning with relatively small yields three years after planting, once the Croton tree reaches maturity at age 11, the Company estimates production to be 103 million liters of biofuel annually. The sequestration of carbon by out-grown trees and the replacement of fossil fuel both qualify for carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol (and its successor), and highlights Tanzania’s commitment to protecting the global commons.

Other major benefits are that Croton megalocarpus is unlikely to be an invasive species since it’s indigenous. A two-tier ground cover protects against rainstorm splash and sheet soil erosion. The trees' growth will replenish soil organic matter.

Africa Biofuel is also committed to maintaining wildlife corridors through protection of riparian wetland areas and other critical habitat in its domain.

Why Biofuel?

• Tanzania uses ~2.42 million liters of petro-diesel daily
  (2005: Table 35, US Energy Information Administration)
• At maturity, a 60,000 ha plantation would provide ~10% of the country’s 2004 petro-diesel consumption
• With the current extreme volatility in oil prices, there would be substantial savings in foreign exchange earnings
• Money saved can be used to build schools, hospitals, clinics, infrastructure, and to pay civil servants decent salaries and thus help reduce corruption

Why in Remote Kagera?

• The tree's optimal biophysical environment is in relatively moist, cool environments, above elevations of 1200 meters and with annual rainfall between 800 and 1600 mm.
• There are only two locations in Tanzania with these characteristics: Kagera and Kigoma Regions.
• The intact forest in Kigoma above 1200 meters elevation is home to endangered chimpanzees, and should perhaps be declared a National Park rather than being leveled to produce biofuels.
• Kagera region, though one of the poorest in Tanzania, has been settled for a long time by people engaged in subsistence and low-return cash crop agriculture, none of it intensive in form.
• Kagera region is also ideally sited on Lake Victoria, as well as being adjacent to potentially major biofuel export markets in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Kenya.