For some years now, there has been keen interest globally to use the Jatropha plant and agricultural-based crops as renewable energy generation alternatives, at the expense of food production, as the world is running short of fossil resource.
Jatropha is a genus of plants and shrubs native to South America and the Caribbean. An estimated 175 species are placed in this species. It grows in a number of climatic zones in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world and can be grown in areas of low rainfall and problematic sites.
Being drought tolerant, the plant can be used to reclaim eroded areas, be grown as a boundary fence or hedge in the arid or semi-arid areas.
There are a number of uses for Jatropha; these include using it as vegetable dyes to oils which can be utilized in the production of bio-fuels.
The seeds of Jatropha contain about 50 per cent viscous oil by weight, which is used for the manufacturing of candles and soap in the cosmetics industry in addition to its cooking properties.
The bio-fuel market can be divided into two main categories; bio-diesel and bio-ethanol. Bio-diesel is manufactured from the plant seed oil while bio-ethanol produced through fermenting grain, straw, sap or wood.
The United States of America (USA) and Brazil are the world's leading bio-ethanol producers while the EU concentrates on bio-diesel production. USA is the single largest bio-diesel market while Brazil is the leader in world ethanol production.
Judging by the current scale on which bio-fuels are cultivated coupled with the fact that traditional food crops are now energy crops i.e. food and energy are competing for the same feedstock, food price hikes are inevitable.
Since the time that about 10 per cent of the world's sugar harvest was converted to ethanol production, the price of sugar has doubled.
The price of palm oil has increased 15 per cent over the past year with a further 25 per cent gain expected next year a BBC/NEWS on BIOFUELS report has said.
Mr Nnimmo Bassey, The Chairman of Friends of the Earth International (FOE), a non-governmental organisation, in his recent statement delivered at a side event organised by FOE-Ghana in Accra to discuss challenges pertaining to bio-fuel development said the time had come for the Africa to explore other sources of renewable energy, such as solar and wind power.
He said: "The drive for bio-fuel is one of the major factors that have contributed to food crisis world wide, between 2008 and 2009. This came about because five per cent of grains, which can feed a village for a year were used to fuel machines."
Mr Bassey cited an example in Swaziland, where a company called D 1 Oils Jatropha, convinced local farmers to cultivate the plant because it does not need plenty water to thrive.
He said the farmers who took the bait, later found out that they had to water the plant on regular basis. "For a continent that has water shortage this is surely an avoidable problem."
In an interview with GNA, Ms Cheryl Agyepong, Programme Coordinator on Genetically Modified Organisms Department of FOE, Ghana, noted that soaring oil prices and the desire to mitigate climate change were the major reasons for the increasing use of Jatropha plant and other crops for the production of energy.
He said meeting the unsustainable fuel consumption patterns of the developed countries was also one of the single most vital factors accounting for the bio-fuel boom.
"Currently, many developed countries have set aggressive targets for bio-fuel use in their transportation sector because the fossil resource was running out.
The European Union for instance has set a mandatory target of 5.75per cent of motor fuel use for bio-fuels by 2010 whiles United States has mandated the use of 28.4 billion litres of bio-fuels by 2012", Ms Agyepong said.
She said: "The huge wave of interest in bio-fuels has seen the rapid push and development of bio-fuels in the Third World especially in Africa and Asia, where we are now told there is plenty of spare land to grow energy crops.
"This is ironic because in the case of GM crops we were told that there wasn't enough land available to grow food and we therefore need Genetically Modified (GM) crops to boost yield.
Ms Agyepong expressed worry about the number of bio-fuel plantations that have been earmarked for Africa, where the people are suffering from food insecurity.
Studies have confirmed that in Ghana, large tracts of land have been acquired mostly by foreign companies for bio-fuel feedstock cultivation.
Currently five crops have been identified as suitable - palm oil, jatropha and coconut for biodiesel production and sugarcane and cassava for bio-ethanol production.
However, the most popularly touted biofuel crop in Ghana is Jatropha curcas locally called nkanedua (meaning light tree). The three modules of biofuel production identified in Ghana are large scale plantations, community energy development and small holder production.
Some of the biofuel initiatives include the establishment of a 200,000 tonnes per annum biodiesel plant by Anuanom Industrial Projects, a million seedling plantation by Anglo Gold Ashanti and a 0.5 tonnes bio plant by Gold Ray Biodiesel Limited,
A Reuters report dated Sept 12 2007 quoted experts as having said that the oilseed plant jatropha did not offer an easy answer to biofuels problems as some countries had hoped, because it could be toxic and the yields were unreliable.
The woody plant can grow on barren, marginal land, and so is increasingly popular in countries such as China that are keen to boost biofuels output but nervous about food security.
It said its nuts and leaves are toxic, requiring careful handling by farmers and at crushing plants, said experts at an oils and fats conference.
In addition, the plant is a labour-intensive crop as each fruit ripens at a different time and needs to be harvested separately. Its productivity is also low and has yet to be stabilised.
An Engineer specialising in oil and fat processing plants, including biodiesel production, said special facilities were needed for crushing jatropha nuts as they could produce a toxic vapour
Jatropha is being pushed as one of the new miracle crops for African small farmers to produce fuel and dig themselves out of poverty.
But the reality is that biofuel developments are firmly controlled by giant trans-national companies which are taking over lands at an incredible pace, and are bringing about serious socio-economic and environmental impacts on communities, food security, forests and water resources.
The paradigm shift to turn food crops like maize, wheat, sugar, palm oil into fuel for cars, without first examining the impact on global hunger, might be a recipe for disaster.
Among the potential impacts identified are increasing food prices; increasing competition over land and forests; forced evictions; impacts on employment and conditions of work and increasing prices and scarcity of water.
With a careful assessment of the pro and cons of the use of jatrpha and other agricultural-based crops for biodiesel, should Africa leaders opt for it or to explore other sources of renewable energy?