Biofuels should not be at the cost of food security

In 2007, a science journal, Scientific American, called jatropha "green gold in a shrub," and that it was a plant that "seems to offer all the benefits of biofuels without the pitfalls."

This was because the wonder tree seemed a boon for the very places with some of the highest rates of poverty and plenty of hot, dry lands: the global south, including Latin America, Africa and Asia.

It was then publicised that, among other things, the miracle tree could also stabilize and restore degraded soils.

This was followed by the frenzy of large scale jatropha farming in several countries, including China, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Malawi, and Brazil.

The major motivating factor was the myth that jatropha could thrive in the dry and degraded lands that are not suitable for food crop farming.

However, it has now been proved through scientific research that contrary to earlier expectations, the tree grows far more productively on higher quality land with more rainfall or irrigation.

In fact, experts say that when jatropha is grown in marginal conditions, farmers have inevitably ended up with marginal yields.

But if the tree is grown on fertile land, this could lead to large scale jatropha farming taking up a huge chunk of productive land thereby posing a threat to food security.

This has already happened in other countries, including India, where government foresters drained rice paddies in order to plant jatropha in the poor and mostly tribal state of Chhattisgarh.

On Mindanao, the second-largest province of the Philippine islands, protests erupted in late 2008, with indigenous leaders insisting that jatropha plantations had begun to displace needed crops of rice, corn, bananas, and root vegetables.

It is for this reason we wish to commend the government for taking a cautious approach to the development of Tanzania’s biofuel industry.

According to a research conducted in the country by two scholars from the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), at least 4 million hectares of land have so far, been requested for biofuel production in the country – especially for jatropha, sugar cane and palm oil.

We are happy that the government has taken heed of the alarm raised over wholesale lease of land for the biofuel industry in that out of the requested area, only 640,000 ha have so far been allocated, with only 100,000 ha having been granted formal rights of occupancy.

Here we are talking about investors who are proposing biofuel projects involving initial investments of up to $1bn over the next 10 to 20 years, taking up mostly village land that is not permanently settled but is used for various economic activities in coastal areas like Bagamoyo, Rufiji, Kilwa and Kisarawe districts.

We therefore, fully support the government decision to review the legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks to identify existing gaps so that it can formulate a new policy and legislation that will govern sustainable development of liquid biofuel industry in the country.

We understand that the country is currently scouting for consultants to undertake this daunting but important task. It should be done carefully because much as we need alternative energy, this cannot be at the risk of food security.

Tanzania’s fertility rate drops, says report

THE country’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has dropped slightly from 5.6 to 5.4 births per woman by May 2010 this year, the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey (TDHS) 2010, preliminary report conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed.

However, the TFR in the rural mainland has remained higher for about 6.1 births per woman compared to 3.7 births per woman in the urban area. Also the fertility in the mainland peaks at the age of between 20 and 25 while in the isles, it starts at the age between 25 and 29.

But in all these ages, the age specific fertility rates are substantially higher for the rural than for urban women. The greatest difference in age specific fertility rates between urban and rural women in mainland occurs at the age between 20 and 24, that is 106 births per 1,000 women.

According to NBS Director General, Dr Albina Chuwa, there has been a down trend in fertility since the early 1990s but with great fluctuations. She made the remarks at the launch of the TDHS preliminary report in Dar es Salaam on Monday.

Dr Chuwa said a change in fertility rate from 6.3 births per woman to 5.4 births per woman in a period of 20 years meaning that there is a decrease of one child, is a major decision reached by couples.

“Reproductive, child and maternal health are good indicators to the country’s social and economic development and have serious and direct implications on the social sustainability of services in the country,” Dr Chuwa remarked.

A demographer with the NBS Mr Ireneus Ruyobia said a decrease in TFR was a step and a positive sign towards achieving country’s development plans.

“With government efforts especially on family planning and investment in education much insistence being on young girls, will definitely help in lowering the TFR, thus achieving the development plans,” Mr Ruyobia said.

The Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Ms Blandina Nyoni noted the government was committed to family planning programmes. She said it was encouraging that three tenths of all women or 29 per cent in the country are currently using some methods of contraceptives, where 24 per cent use modern methods and 5 per cent use traditional methods.

According to the TDHS report, the most commonly used modern methods among all women are injectables by 9 per cent, pills by 5 per cent and male condoms by 4 per cent.
Also among married women, about one third or 34 per cent use some methods of contraception, 27 per cent use modern methods and 7 per cent use traditional methods.

The PS observed further that report findings showing decrease of under five mortality rate by 40 per cent from 137 deaths in every 1,000 births, infant mortality from 81 deaths to 51 in every 1,000 births are very encouraging.

Some of the objectives of the TDHS 2010 are to collect high quality data on fertility levels and preferences, family planning use, reproductive, child and maternal health, nutritional status of young children and women and childhood mortality levels.