Scientists have devised new ways to produce bio fuels, primarily bio ethanol from sweet potatoes and this is very good news for sweet potato farmers in the future.
According to a groundbreaking research carried out in two separate studies by Taiwanese scientists and presented at the 11th World Renewable Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi last week, the scientists have come up with new and more efficient methods to produce bio ethanol from sweet potatoes. Something that was not practical a few years back.
According to the two experts Shang-Shyng Yang of the Department of Food Science, China University of Science and Technology, Taipei, and Wen-Shiang Lee of the Institute of Microbiology and Biochemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, most developing countries including those in Africa still rely largely on non renewable fuels which are mostly imported since many of them do not have oil or oil refinery facilities. These non renewable resources are finite and they also cause global warming as a result of the greenhouse effect. There's therefore a need for developing countries to develop new and alternative energy sources to power transportation, especially from the biofuels.
It's interesting to note that in Taiwan, sweet potato is at the core of the country's renewable energy policy and I think this is something that we can borrow from. In most parts of Africa including my home country Kenya, most of the sweet potatoes we produce is for human consumption. The lack of alternative uses and markets for sweet potatoes means that farmers are held hostage; they have to rely on a single source to market their produce, they are hostage to consumption patterns, hostage of over production and hostage to weather conditions.
The cost of production of sweet potatoes is relatively low. They do not need much fertilisers, they need just a little rainfall and do not need excessive labour and maintenance to nurture. Also sweet potatoes rarely need herbicides or pesticides. It's a crop most farmers in rural Africa can easily produce.
From the study, the sweet potato will be one of the most viable sources of bio energy in the future. This is an interesting development as past reasearch by Universities in the Southern United States had determined that sweet potatoes were not the ideal raw materials for bio ethanol production. With this new groundbreaking reasearch, sweet potato farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, China, the Southern United States and other regions can breathe a new sigh of relief.
In spite of the debate over whether industrial production will lead to a food crisis, as a farmer I think that farmers need much more diverse opportunities and surety that their produce will find diverse uses and bring revenue and not rot in farms due to a saturated market. We need stability and an industrial mechanism to put these sweet potatoes into use so that we can keep producing and perhaps create some wealth and stability for the regions. The food crisis is sometimes caused by poor distribution infrastructure.
I think with more industrial uses for sweet potatoes, then we have an incentive to put more acreage into cultivation. It's a beautiful prospect. As a kid growing up in a large scale sweet potato farming community and watching the struggle to find markets for our produce, I always wondered whether there were alternative and more 'sophisticated' industrial uses for sweet potatoes rather than just consumption. It seems our prayers are being answered by research.
They key impediment for many farmers, like in many instances in Africa, is the rate of diffusion or integrattion of research into the value chain. It normally takes years for research on new varieties to seep through and directly benefit farmers. The lack of this conduit for transmitting research to directly impact the lives of farmers in the shortest time possible will continue to be a major impediment to the prosperity of sweet potato farmers in Kabondo, and to a larger extent in Africa.
According to a groundbreaking research carried out in two separate studies by Taiwanese scientists and presented at the 11th World Renewable Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi last week, the scientists have come up with new and more efficient methods to produce bio ethanol from sweet potatoes. Something that was not practical a few years back.
According to the two experts Shang-Shyng Yang of the Department of Food Science, China University of Science and Technology, Taipei, and Wen-Shiang Lee of the Institute of Microbiology and Biochemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, most developing countries including those in Africa still rely largely on non renewable fuels which are mostly imported since many of them do not have oil or oil refinery facilities. These non renewable resources are finite and they also cause global warming as a result of the greenhouse effect. There's therefore a need for developing countries to develop new and alternative energy sources to power transportation, especially from the biofuels.
 |
| Sweet Potato Biofuels: With new and more efficient processing techniques to extract bio ethanol from sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes will power transportation in the future giving many farmers in Africa and the developing world a lifeline. |
The cost of production of sweet potatoes is relatively low. They do not need much fertilisers, they need just a little rainfall and do not need excessive labour and maintenance to nurture. Also sweet potatoes rarely need herbicides or pesticides. It's a crop most farmers in rural Africa can easily produce.
From the study, the sweet potato will be one of the most viable sources of bio energy in the future. This is an interesting development as past reasearch by Universities in the Southern United States had determined that sweet potatoes were not the ideal raw materials for bio ethanol production. With this new groundbreaking reasearch, sweet potato farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, China, the Southern United States and other regions can breathe a new sigh of relief.
In spite of the debate over whether industrial production will lead to a food crisis, as a farmer I think that farmers need much more diverse opportunities and surety that their produce will find diverse uses and bring revenue and not rot in farms due to a saturated market. We need stability and an industrial mechanism to put these sweet potatoes into use so that we can keep producing and perhaps create some wealth and stability for the regions. The food crisis is sometimes caused by poor distribution infrastructure.
 |
| Biofuels from the tubers: Sweet Potato biofuels will mitigate effects of greenhouses gases particularly in developing countries, many of which overwhelmingly rely on fossil fuels imports. In some countries like Taiwan, sweet potatoes are at the core of the renewable energy policy due to their adaptability and ease of cultivation and care. |
They key impediment for many farmers, like in many instances in Africa, is the rate of diffusion or integrattion of research into the value chain. It normally takes years for research on new varieties to seep through and directly benefit farmers. The lack of this conduit for transmitting research to directly impact the lives of farmers in the shortest time possible will continue to be a major impediment to the prosperity of sweet potato farmers in Kabondo, and to a larger extent in Africa.
No comments:
Post a Comment