Maputo — Mozambican Energy Minister Salvador Namburete has insisted that there is no conflict between the production of biofuels in Mozambique and food production.
According to a press release from the Energy Ministry, received by AIM on Sunday, Namburete was speaking at the African Energy Forum, held in the Swiss city of Basle, at a session on biofuels.
Namburete said the Mozambican government had clearly identified the factors which had to be considered when embarking on biofuels production. Those factors included the instability of international fuel prices, the promotion of agriculture and food production in the fight against poverty, and the need to give farmers the opportunity to add value to their crops through processing them. The Mozambican biofuel policy and strategy, he added, was based on "including the rural communities in the business, transparency through the participation of all stakeholders, mitigation of the social and environmental impacts, fiscal sustainability and innovation".
He dismissed claims about the eventual negative impacts of biofuel production in Mozambique, and invited all those interested to visit development projects in Mozambique and speak to the communities and investors involved.
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