Biofuel Production in South Africa

With this paper I aim to conduct a critical discourse analysis of the South African Biofuel Industrial Strategy which was passed in 2007. South Africa has produced biofuels prior to the passing of the BIS, dating back to as early as the 1920s. I examine the history of biofuel production in the country and outline the historical discourse around biofuel production. The BIS renewed South Africa’s commitment to biofuel production and outline the country’s biofuel goals post 2007. The BIS was set up to coincide with other several other goals of other governmental. Land reform and land use restrictions were tied into the BIS, hoping biofuel production would assist emerging farmers on newly redistributed land; I examine the discourse around the BIS and look at its impacts on agriculture, land affairs, and biofuel production. Similarly, food security was made paramount in the BIS, leading to extensive biofuel production regulations, in effect preventing bio-ethanol producers from participating in the biofuel industry because of the food security concerns. This led to the examination of the biofuel industry where the paper compared the discourse of the BIS with the impacts of the strategy on the biofuel industry. I conclude by analysing the BIS and assessing its efficacy. The analysis will show that the strategy is too broad, too ambitious, and unfortunately therefore unworkable.