Working on Europe's illegal immigrant problem by investing in Senegal's biofuel industry
Most of our readers must be familiar with the phenomenon of illegal immigration that happens in the US-Mexican border. In Europe there's a similar situation in the Canary Islands, which belong to Spain although they're placed in front of West Sahara (see illustration). Quite a number of Africans try to reach the Canary Islands on precarious boats to try to enter the European Union.One of the solutions EU governments are thinking of is developing industry in African countries where people emigrate from, so people get "linked to the land" while getting a good source of income that can refrain immigration. And lately, the crops of choice are the ones that can yield biofuels.
Such is the case of the Government of the Island of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), that has signed an agreement with Senegal to develop a biofuel industry. Tenerife will install a laboratory that will harvest the plants in-vitro . Then they will help the agriculture and developing a local manufacturing industry, so the fullest benefit will remain in the country. The selected crops are oil seeds to develop vegetable oil suitable for biodiesel.
Tenerife's targets are more social than ecological: developing industry in Senegal is a key factor to reduce the thousands that arrive to the Canarian shores. EU's requirements on biofuels are considered an opportunity for countries like Senegal to develop a local industry that might help in the country's economic development.
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[Source: Agroinformacion]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 6:30PM (8/14/2007)
Or, the EU could just let Africans grow food and export some of it to Europe. But nooo, they've got to keep their farmers mollycoddled so they can continue pay inflated prices for inputs and receive belo-market prices for their produce. The processing industry then funds political parties in e.g. France to keep the whole gravy train rolling.
Meanwhile, EU consumers are paying too much for their food and any surplus produce is then dumped in places like Senegal, thrashing the local agricultural industry and forcing people there to make the very perilous journey across the sea.
Don't get me wrong, grown biofuels in the tropics may make sense. But first, the people there have got to eat.
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Snark 8:42AM (8/15/2007)
Hopefully they're considering jatropha. Considering the exceedingly poor state of most of senegal's soils, that plant would be a great way to both improve soil quality and produce biodiesel.
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