Zimbabwe and Bioethanol

In amongst all the news and noise about the alleged immanent collapse of Zimbabwe aka Rumbabwe… comes a little surprise snipped from the Citizen news paper on how Biofuels are set to push up food prices. [Citizen 5/07/07 P28]

I can believe that something is pushing up the price of maize. A fifty-kilogram bag of #2 yellow maize aka Straight Run cost me R172.00 last week. Four months ago it was R105.00 and last September it was around R95.00.

By my standards that is a considerable increase in price, in a short period of time: about 80%. The people at the agricultural [former Ko-op] place where I bought the stuff said simply that it was ‘ a gonna’ keep costing more because: “They are using the mielies for petrol”.

Tucked in on the Citizen graphic accompanying the article [graphic from the Renewable Fuels Association] South Africa produced 386 million litres of Bioethanol last year, which obviously helps account for the sudden rise in price of Maize products. The USA and Brazil between them produced more than 35 BILLION litres.

Only a short moment ago none of us had heard of Bioethanol or Bio diesel

Tucked away in a corner of the graphic was the news that Zimbabwe had produced 26 million litres.

I don’t know how much maize produces one litre; most Internet sites talk vaguely about 1.36 units of input equalling 1 unit of bioethanol and the nature of this “unit” is unclarified. Presumably it is a great deal of maize, or slightly less sugar cane: also a source of bioethanol. Probably enough to feed a few villages for a while.

I keep remembering that the citizens of Rumbabwe have been starving now for so long you would imagine that there wasn’t anyone left to starve when the “Show Over” signs allegedly go up this week. Ho hum. [When asked for his opinion on radio this week about an alleged “rescue” plan for Zimbabwe involving the incorporation of that country’s currency into the Rand currency region a well known local economist simply burst out laughing.] One also remembers that the citizens of North Korea have allegedly been starving since the eighties and the thug leadership of that place is still running things.

I also think it is impressive that a failed state like Rumbabwe can produce 26 million litres of this fuel while chaos allegedly reigns supreme and wonder whether the source material, presumably Maize, was locally grown, by the fully emancipated former peasant class, perhaps even those relocated to former colonialist property holdings, or was it supplied from free maize imports aimed at feeding the so-called “starving masses”. Alternatively of course, it may have been stolen from the private companies that grow sugar cane.

The Blogospherian.