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Biofuels: Revitalising Nigeria’s Dormant Agricultural Sector
10 per cent ethanol content in fuel by 2010 is an achievable goal
The production of biofuels – liquid fuels produced from biomass, in Nigeria could help to solve two problems – progress toward commercial farming and the lack of a stable electricity supply in rural areas. The country grows a number of raw biofuel materials in abundance, including cassava (of which Nigeria is the leading global producer), sugar cane, oil palm, sorghum and maize. Recent forecasts say that Nigeria only has 43 years before it completely runs out of oil. As oil production drops in the Niger delta and global oil prices fluctuate, the country has begun to realise that it needs to diversify its energy sources away from oil. The Nigerian government is aiming to meet the target of 10 per cent ethanol content in fuel by 2010, set by the United Nations in its Kyoto Agreement. As a result, the biofuel sector has gone from strength to strength. Although biofuels policies vary state by state, nearly all of them are involved in some aspect of production.
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