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BioFuel Africa Ltd., a biofuel company focused on growing sustainable alternative fuels in West Africa, has increased local farmers acreage for food production in the Kpachaa/Jimle area near Tamale in northern Ghana by nearly 10 times, growing from 55 to 540 acres, an increase of more than 880 percent.
In 2008, 55 acres of the company's land was planted with food crops grown by 25 local farmers.
After testing that soil for is nutritional quality, which had been farmed for food crops for a number of years, BioFuel Africa discovered that the soil had been depleted of key natural nutrients.
In order to maximize food production for the local farmers, farmers were offered the option of relocating to more fertile lands nearby.
Subsequently, the original 55 acres was moved to land in the same area, also leased by BioFuel Africa that had not been previously farmed.
BioFuel Africa then cleared and plowed the land for the farmers, and the farmers themselves planted local staples such as cassava, yam, corn (maize), rice, beans and groundnuts.
Within one year, the 55 acres of BioFuel Africa-leased land planted with food crops that grown to 540 acres an increase of nearly 10 times or more than 880 percent, all of which was cleared and plowed by BioFuel Africa in order to assure that local farmers would be able to affordably plant and cultivate their own crops.
We follow what we call our "Food First Principle", said Steinar Kolnes, CEO & Director of BioFuel Africa. That means that food production is always given first priority. When we cultivate crops for jatropha, we simultaneously invest in food production to assure that local farmers and local communities are positively affected by our presence in the area".
In addition to cultivating new land for local farmers, BioFuel Africa has created more than 400 jobs for local workers during peak season, which serves as an additional stabilizing influence on the economic and food security situation for local communities that often battle starvation periods in the dry season in northern Ghana and poverty-level wages.
BioFuel Africa, in addition to job creation and cultivation of lands used exclusively for food production by local farmers, has also constructed three water dams that harvest rain and provide a source of clean water throughout the year, particularly during the extended dry season. Additionally, the company constructed a maize mill for use by local communities and built a small health station manned by a local healthcare worker, accessible by all nearby local communities.
ABOUT BIOFUEL AFRICA
BioFuel Africa Ltd. is Ghanaian corporation wholly owned by Norwegian-based Solar Harvest AS.
BioFuel Africa has had a presence in Ghana since 2003, and established its first working test and research farm near Sugakope, just outside of Accra, in 2007.
BioFuel Africa was the first company in Ghana to receive Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approval for a jatropha plantation, and an independent company recently verified that jatropha oil from BioFuel Africa plantations reduces co2 lifecycle emissions by 78 percent as compared to diesel fuel.
EDITORIAL CONTACT:
Steinar Kolnes
CEO & Director
Norway: +47 9004 2374
Ghana: +233 244 317361
Alt. Ghana: +233 024 964 9736
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