Southern African countries’ interest in biofuel is due of its rural development potential. Finding models to optimize this benefit is therefore paramount. High-energy-density crops with low perishability allow farmers to grow small quantities on existing lands.

Highly perishable, low-density crops such as sugarcane require tight integration between growers and mills. Models where growers have full ownership in the feedstock production facilities are possible, but this normally means that smallholder farmers need to work as a unit to achieve benefits of scale. Finding market-based mechanisms to ensure sound and equitable returns for land and labour inputs is critical.

Biofuels have been promoted as a major development opportunity for Southern Africa (Gasparatos et al.2015; World Bank 2011). As far as we can ascertain, all Southern African countries with the exception of Lesotho have initiated a process of identifying possible biofuel projects. This process was initially investor-led, with foreign investors requesting land for biofuel development before any of the Southern African countries had a suitable policy framework in place (Haywood et al. 2008). In response,the countries started developing local biofuel strategies, mandates,and legislationaround biofuel projects and local conditions under which they could be initiated. Theinitial biofuel boom in the region appears to have been largely stimulated by the European Union’sRenewable Energy Directive (RED). Investors anticipated a huge and lucrative EU market and started investigating opportunities to meet this demand.

This stimulated a large interest in land acquisitions in Africa, much of this as foreign direct investment (FDI) acquisition of large blocks of land on which to establish large commercial biofuel plantations.Some projects,however,focused on smallholder-based production models. African biofuel was initially geared more toward export opportunities and less toward local or regional fuel markets. However, the RED ‘pull’for international biofuels seems to have been overestimated. African governments also realized that there might be more benefit to be gained from local use of biofuel,which would offset imports of fossil fuel. The African governments’priorities around biofuels have also tended to have a far stronger developmental than environmental focus (von Maltitz and Stafford 2011). It is therefore important that African countries consider the best management options for biofuelsso as to best achieve their national interests. Biofuel projects in the region tended to focus on two main feedstocks. Jatropha, a shrub with oil-bearing but toxic seeds,was the crop around which a large proportion of projects were initially based. Numerous jatropha projects were initiated (von Maltitz and Setzkorn 2013), though very few were fully implemented (von Maltitz et al. 2014).

The second crop that received a lot of attention was sugarcane. Despite much talk, to the best of ourknowledgeno projects are yet operational.Malawi,however,has a sugarcane-based ethanol project that has been operational since 1982. Furthermore, sugarcane for sugar production is a wellestablished crop in the region, with projects operational in South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zambia,and Zimbabwe