(HERALD) ‘Zim won’t collapse’
‘Zim won’t collapse’Business Editor
ZIMBABWE will not collapse, now or in the future, and illegal sanctions against its people will not subdue the nation’s resilience and ability to survive, President Mugabe has said. Speaking at the commissioning of the country’s maiden commercial bio-diesel plant in Mount Hampden just outside Harare yesterday, Cde Mugabe said challenges brought about by the sanctions had instead motivated Zimbabweans to think outside the box.
"As a people, we have demonstrated that the dark clouds of our hard times, particularly those sown by Western destructive forces, have their silver lining by way of not just strengthening our resilience, but also of deepening our scientific research and stimulating our innovativeness," he said.
Zimbabwe made history by launching the first such plant in Africa, a move that should significantly ease fuel shortages while saving the country at least US$80 million annually through import substitution when operating at full capacity to produce 100 million litres of bio-diesel per year.
The plant, which processes jatropha, cotton seed, sunflower and soya, among others, to produce bio-diesel, is a joint venture between the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and Youn Woo Investments of South Korea.
President Mugabe commended the two partners for coming up with such an innovation.
Zimbabwe also becomes the first country in the world to produce bio-diesel with a bio-purity level of virtually 100 percent.
Germany has a bio-purity level of 75 percent while other European countries range from 2 percent to 20 percent.
This achievement, said President Mugabe, was a derivative of Government’s far-sighted land reform programme.
Zimbabwe, which has largely depended on imported fuels, would now be cushioned against exogenous threats relating to fuel supplies, particularly in terms of pricing and availability when the plant is at full capacity.
"The strategic importance of this bio-diesel programme is its symbiotic integration with Government’s thrust in agricultural productive activity.
"I am informed that once wholly customised, this plant will, at full capacity, yield a production level of 100 million litres of diesel per year, meeting virtually all the agricultural sector’s diesel requirements for our strategic crops and other farming activities," said President Mugabe.
Positive spin-offs from the investment, which include the production of industrial chemicals and stockfeed, would benefit the country immensely.
In this regard, Government would install similar plants in all provinces over the next three years to meet the country’s agricultural and industrial productive sector fuel demands.
Farmers were challenged to produce enough oil seeds to meet both consumptive and fuel production needs. At least 500 tonnes of seed oil would be required annually to produce the targeted 100 million litres of bio-diesel.
On its part, the Government would deepen frameworks for technical and financial support to consolidate the benefit of land redistribution.
"Within this context, therefore, it is once more necessary to challenge all beneficiaries of the land acquisition exercise to ensure that every inch of allocated land is put to good use," the President said.
The 2007/2008 agricultural system was expected to mark the turning point in the country’s economic fortunes, with agricultural production providing the lead in the transformation process.
Finance Minister Dr Samuel Mumbengegwi said both fiscal and monetary policies had adopted a thrust to fully support agriculture as a strategy to shrug off the effects of illegal sanctions.
Energy and Power Development Minister Cde Mike Nyambuya also commended the installation of the bio-diesel plant, stressing that fuel from this process was much cleaner and safer to use.
At yesterday’s ceremony, Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono announced a $1 trillion finance facility for each province for the
production of jatropha, the major oil seed for the bio-diesel processing technology.
He said the facility was meant to stimulate the growth and propagation of jatropha as feeder stock for bio-diesel projects in each province.
This was part of a two-year strategy towards energy production, self-sufficiency and import substitution. Modalities on the application and operation of the facility were presently being worked out.
Jatropha had the highest oil content ahead of other vegetable oil seeds.
However, because of its customisation, the bio-diesel plant launched yesterday can process any vegetable oil seed.
"It is our hope that as a country we can now come up with a National Energy Self-Sufficient Vision document with clear deliverables and time frames that links our agricultural and industrial activities to land, to fuel generation and export earnings.
"Today we are standing on, and witnessing the correct formula for dealing with our national diesel challenges and using brand new technology from far afield," said Dr Gono.
The latest facility is one of many the central bank has launched over the past few years to stimulate production in agriculture and other productive sectors of the economy.
The jatropha facility would augment efforts to encourage production of the crop, which has a 35 percent oil content, much higher than other seeds that average 17 percent.
It took two to three years before jatropha seeds could be harvested and, in the meantime, Zimbabwe had excess capacity in terms of pressing other oil seeds such as sunflower, cotton seed and soya.
Following yesterday’s ceremony, efforts were now being directed towards the establishment of replica plants in all provinces.
Zimbabwe requires one billion litres of diesel per annum and could become self-sufficient if the bio-diesel plants, with a production capacity of 100 million litres annually, would be established in all provinces.
Dr Gono said yesterday’s plant launch was a culmination of negotiations between the central bank and some private sector South Korean investors that began in May last year when he visited that country.
It took four months to install the plant.
During its construction, the central bank also drew expertise from the National Social Security Authority and the Civil Protection Units to ensure adherence to safety and environmental friendly concepts.
"Your Excellency, the declared and undeclared sanctions against us as a country as well as the hardships our people are experiencing, coupled with the continued rise in the price of oil internationally, demands that we reconfigure our lives and our economy in a manner that eases the plight of our people and reduce dependency on those externalities and exogenous factors which we cannot influence in our favour," said Dr Gono.
He commended Zimbabwe’s education system, saying the Mount Hampden plant was being operated by young men and women from local universities who had proven their worth.
These would continue to receive training locally and in South Korea.
"They are excellent by any standards and this has been confirmed by the plant designers themselves," said Dr Gono.
The President witnessed the diesel from the plant being poured into a tractor, which then moved powered by the fuel.
Chiefs throughout the country would each be allotted 200 litres of the diesel mainly to support agricultural production in their areas.
Labels: BIOFUELS, JATROPHA, ZIMBABWE
posted by MrK @ 4:01 AM
1 Comments:
This is, by the way, how and where speeches and comments should be made by the president. Not at an airport, on the way to some distant destination, but at the inauguration of actual development and economic landmarks. It is great that Zimbabwe is moving toward the use of biofuel, because it will be much less dependent on imported oil, and the foreign currency that it requires.
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