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Analyse alternative fuel sources, advises ZCSMBA

Analyse alternative fuel sources, advises ZCSMBA
By Joan Chirwa
Monday June 23, 2008 [04:00]

THE development of alternative fuel sources should be looked at critically as oil prices continue to rise on the international market, associations of small businesses have advised. The associations have noted that small businesses in Zambia (an oil importing country) would be the worst hit by rising fuel costs.

The Small-Scale Industries Association of Zambia (SSIAZ) and Zambia Chamber of Small and Medium Business Associations (ZCSMBA) indicated that weak economies in the region would find it difficult to compete on markets due to rising costs of production.

“The cost of inputs in any production process pushes up the cost of doing business. Fuel is a major input in production for any sector and once the price goes up, operations of several businesses are negatively affected,” said ZCSMBA executive secretary Maxwell Sichula. “Ultimately, an increase in production costs will be passed on to consumers and this is what has been happening. We need fuel to transport raw materials; we need fuel to transport finished products to markets, so all the production costs businesses incur will be factored into the final cost of a product on the shelves.”

Sichula said the development of the bio fuel sector would act as a long-term measure to rising costs of fuel.

“We have plenty of land which can be utilised to grow crops like jatropha and others for bio fuels,” Sichula said. “This needs to be taken seriously.”

However, increasing needs for bio fuels worldwide have been linked to the current food shortages.

Developed countries like the USA and UK have increased production of corn for bio fuel use, a situation that experts say has led to unprecedented rise in food crops as well as agricultural inputs such as fertiliser.

And President Levy Mwanawasa has advised farmers in the country to largely concentrate on food crop production while cultivating energy crops at a small-scale level to avoid possible food shortages in the country.

And SSIAZ president Mukuka Nunkwe asked the government to cushion the rising costs of fuel by either maintaining a subsidy on the commodity or reviewing the tax structure.

Labels: BIOFUELS, FARMERS, SSIAZ, ZCSMBA

posted by MrK @ 4:00 AM