Three Crops of Sugar Cane a Year in Vietnam

Vietnam's economy is picking up for multiple reasons. Besides providing abundant, cheap labour to companies avoiding China, Vietnam also has an ideal climate for growing a large variety of bioenergy crops including sugarcane, cassava, and rice.

Vietnam was chosen for the project because of the access to cheap raw material there. Cassava, byproducts from rice processing and sugar cane will be used to make the biofuel. The climate in Vietnam permits the production of three crops per year of those materials.

...Rostekhnologia owns shares in two other joint ventures in Vietnam, the Simprimfiko fishery (50%) and rubber producer Visorutex (32%). Rostekhnologia received its share in the latter company by reinvesting part of Vietnam’s debt to the USSR in its plantations. __Bioenergycheckbiotech

Vietnam should also present an ideal climate for growing a wide array of tropical oilseed crops including jatropha, pongamia, moringa, palm oil, and coconut. Brazilian diesel trees also require a tropical or sub-tropical climate.

Until algal oil becomes economical to produce, developed world markets in more temperate climates must either use 1st generation bio-oils such as soy and rape, or import higher yield oilseeds from tropical growing regions. Already, large new developments of palm oil are being installed in several nations of Southeast Asia and Africa. Large plantations of palm oil will unfortunately be destabilising both ecologically and economically to the small scale local economies of many of these regions. See more on this topic in regard to D.R. Congo here.

Much preferred for the sake of small regional economies, is the co-cultivation of oilseed shrubs such as jatropha and moringa with other crops--to supply local needs and to provide local cash for other expenditures.

It is Al Fin's hope that many of the NGO's dealing with third world micro-economies will abandon their self-righteous attacks on biofuels, and become pro-active in promoting small, local scale industry and agriculture in bioenergy.