Case Study Mali

National level: The potential for jatropha is of particular interest for Mali as the country is not an oil producing country and hard-earned resources are devoted for the importation of increasingly expensive fossil fuel products. Several initiatives, using jatropha oil as fuel are being implemented by various actors in Mali for rural electrification and by the transport sector. But this is at its infancy and the contribution to the national energy supply is very low.

In 2007, the government of Mali has adopted the national strategy for the development of biofuel which is based on the energy policy and the renewable energy strategy. The objective of the national biofuel strategy is to replace 20% of diesel oil consumption with biofuel by 2022. Jatropha oil and ethanol have been identified as the most promising sources for biofuel production in Mali. The objective of the national biofuel target for jatropha oil production is to produce 39.2 Ml by 2012 and 84 Ml by 2022. This will require the production of 224,000 tons of seeds in 2012, 336,000 tons in 2017 and 448,000 tons in 2022. The total plantation surface necessary to produce these quantities are 71,680 hectares in 2012, 53,760 hectares in 2017 and 47,787 hectares in 2022.

In order to facilitate the implementation of this strategy and the elaboration of legislative rules, the National Agency for Biofuel Development (ANADEB) was established in 2009.

Regional & local level: The two selected Case Studies in Mali are MaliBiocarburant, a Dutch-Mali joint venture company, and the Garalo Bagani Yelen pilot project of the Mali-Folkecenter Nyetaa.

MaliBiocarburant is a Dutch-Mali joint venture company that works with rural populations to produce biodiesel from jatropha oil. It is currently the most centralised jatropha activity in Mali, as the biodiesel-processing technology is more high-tech and thus requires a more centralised approach. Mobile pressing units have been deployed to villages in an attempt to reduce transport costs by transporting oil instead of seed. Oil is processed in Koulikoro at the processing station with a capacity of 2,000 litres per day. MaliBiocarburant has been successful in obtaining carbon credits for its work. MaliBiocarburant seeks to supply jatropha biodiesel for the national market.

Biodiesel could thus create a sizable market for itself due to the fact that it can be used in most diesel engines with just some very minor engine changes. This means the potential market is very large. But there may also be an increased risk that the biodiesel is exported instead of being used for the local needs and the local development in Mali.

Mali-Folkecenter Nyetaa (MFC) has a more low-tech grassroots approach based on the use of pure jatropha oil in converted diesel gensets to produce power for rural electrification. MFC is currently working in eleven villages to set up these systems. Garalo Bagani Yelen was the pilot project in which the organisational model was developed. This model has been expanded into the 10-villages project called “Bagani Courant 10”. The key to the approach is that in typical rural diesel electrification projects, 50-75% of operating costs are for fuel. This cash leaves the village and the country to pay for diesel imports. In MFC’s work the fuel costs are re-injected into the local community to pay for jatropha oil and jatropha seeds and thus the electrification increases people’s revenues. Combined with the support for new income generating activities it becomes an engine to kick-start local economic development.

The following Global-Bio-Pact report has been published:

BURRELL T., OUATTARA O., SOKONA M., TOGOLA I. (2011)
Global-Bio-Pact Case Study: Socio-Economic Impacts of the Jatropha chain in Mali
MFC; Report of the FP7 Global-Bio-Pact Project (FP7-245085) [download]