European biofuel projects in the “Congo breadbasket” may threaten food security

Although the company claims to use “degraded” land, Congo urgently needs to increase its local food production, according to the United Nations.

In the Lovako area of Nyare province in southwestern Congo, some fields have been left abandoned while local families have re-plowed others. The investigation team flew by drone over the rainy lands, which were previously part of an agricultural project of Eni Congo, a subsidiary of the Italian oil company “ENI”.

The project was managed by Luxembourg-based Agri Resources and covered an area of 29,000 hectares to pilot castor plant cultivation in order to supply Eni's biofuel plants in Italy.

But the project failed, the leader of the nearby village of Kibinduka, Joseph Ngoma Kookibini, said, citing poor productivity. He added, “Agri Resources is no longer here.”

Lovaco was one of three locations where Eni started growing castor in 2022, a non-food crop grown on “degraded land” as a “sustainable” source of biofuel. This project was not supposed to cause deforestation or compete with food crops.

But last May, the company started using food crops such as sunflower and soybeans to produce biofuels, raising concerns about the impact on local food security.

So far, Eni has relied heavily on controversial palm oil by-products such as PFAD and POME, and used cooking oils imported from Indonesia and Malaysia.

To increase supplies, Eni has launched agricultural projects since 2021 in several countries including Congo, Kenya, Mozambique and Ivory Coast, with the aim of producing 700,000 tons of vegetable oils by 2028.

In the Congo, it is planned to produce 20,000 tons of castor oil, saflor and kale by 2023, and up to 250,000 tons by 2030. But the Castor project in Lovaco has been closed, while other projects in “Bwanza” and “Paul” are still in pilot stages.

In May, Eni opened a press plant in Lodema (Bwanza), which is expected to produce 30,000 tons of vegetable oil in 2025, based on 1.1 million tons of crops grown on 15,000 hectares.

According to a local farmer named Chris Nsimba, castor production still exists, but has been curtailed in favor of other crops.

In 2021, Eni signed a 50-year agreement with the Congolese government to develop the cultivation of biofuel crops, covering an area of 150,000 hectares. The company plans to reach 40,000 hectares in Bwanza by 2025.

ENI officials claim that the exploited land has been “abandoned for decades” and that their production “meets European sustainability standards”, stressing that the project does not interfere with the food supply chain.

However, the United Nations asserts that local food production in the Congo covers only 30% of needs, with a heavy dependence on imports, while about 19.6% of children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition.

“Eni” defends its project by pointing out that waste from oil production is used as protein-rich feed for local livestock, which enhances food security, they say.

In 2022, the EU reduced its support for biofuels derived from vegetable oils such as palm oil due to its impact on deforestation and food security, and decided to ban the sale of internal combustion vehicles by 2035, while allowing the use of “sustainable fuels” for the aviation sector.

Eni is participating in an alliance that is pressing the European Commission to recognize cars that use biofuels as “zero-emission”, claiming that the carbon dioxide emitted is absorbed back by crops.

The Italian government supports this approach through the “Matte Plan for Africa”, which aims to develop agriculture in the continent and provide fuel to Italy and Europe.

However, in Lodima, some farmers express their reservations. Nsimba believes that these projects do not benefit the local population because they are directed to international markets.

Source: euronews