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The increasing demand for biofuels may result in less land available for food production as farmers are enticed to switch to biofuel crops, President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Sunday.
Speaking at the African Peer Review Forum in Benin, Motlanthe said considerations of land hunger and opportunities that could derive from using land for other productive purposes were excluded.
"This scramble is taking place in partnership with sections of African interests, promoted as foreign direct investment, foreign aid, bringing job creation opportunities, utilisation of otherwise "fallow" land and providing clean energy -- to the exclusion of considerations of land hunger," he said.
He said projects to supply such production should be located within a broader land reform strategy, developed and driven by African governments and the people.
"In this regard, we will be able to find appropriate balances and competing imperatives between the poor and authorities with responsibility over land, native populations and the descendants of colonisers and the need and obligations for maintaining bio-diversity."
Moltlanthe said the land issue was very complex and that there was a need to recognise the diversity of Africa and land struggles that have taken place in different parts of the continent.
"Land reform programmes should be designed and financed to impact positively on agrarian and production systems in order to enhance the agricultural sector of the economy."
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