National Bioenergy Strategy and National Strategy on the development of Renewable Energies 2016-2020

The National Bioenergy Strategy aims to contribute to national energy security through the production of bioenergy, for transport as well as power generation. It concentrates on developing jatropha (a species of flowering plant) for biodiesel production and sugarcane for ethanol production. The Strategy set an informal goal of planting 'a total of 320,000 ha of jatropha by 2012, by providing each of 320 rural communities with 1,000 ha of jatropha seedlings, which would be used to produce a total of 1.2bn litres of jatropha oil to meet annual petrol and diesel needs' (IRENA 2012). However, the implementation of the Strategy has been so far incomplete.