Ethanol Production

The Ikululand Initiative

Cassava being farmed

Working in Partnership with the Ikulu Foundation, Nehemiah Foundation International is
developing a business proposal for ethical investors, who are prepared to support a
project which will provide a market for cassava, sweet potato and sugar cane to the
farmers in rural Ikulu chiefdom. These products will be turned into ethanol or
biodiesel, products, whch are in huge world demand.

Investors will help alleviate poverty in some of the most impoverished parts of Nigeria,
assisting the development of health centres, schools, roads and clean water availability
to these people.
Interviews have indicated a strong desire for farmers to increase their cassava crop
size, which they have recently reduced due to declining markets. There is clearly
capacity for increase and some districts are extremely bullish about their abilities to
increase production. Clearly new strains of cassava, some of which are designed for
ethanol production, are becoming available and this will further increase crop yield.
At present women are involved in the cassava crop as the processors. They change
cassava into flour and garri, but the process for ethanol requires simply that ethanol
roots are dried into chips, which are easily managed. Women in Ikulu chiefdom have
differing views as to their involvement in the project, but the vast majority indicate their
strengths are in handling the commercial aspects of the business, where men will take
over the actual farming. Ikulu is an area affected by HIV/AIDS and women who have
lost their husbands clearly have to work both as farmers and processors.
Children actually farm as a useful leisure activity in Ikulu chiefdom. All said they
enjoyed doing the farming and they had specific parts of their week, where they were
involved, which did not interfere with schooling.
Southern Kaduna does have a severe shortage of schools and teachers and in the
more remote villages, such as Akurjini, only a few classes of Primary education are
available to children. Interestingly this community is extremely industrious and clever
with their produce, since they must travel several hours to the market on foot.
 Children, when asked who farms cassava
Akurjini villagers are an important group for the project, as they represent
some of the most disadvantaged people in the chiefdom. They must play a
key role in the venture or they will feel only a minimal impact from the
project. Their skills are in processing of foods and they have shown great
industriousness in taking products and converting them into light
transportable premium goods, to maximise the benefit from their travel
challenges. Without their involvement and that of villages like them,
education for their children will be restricted to current levels (Primary 1 to
Primary 3) and access to the village will remain as “motorcycle only”.
Dutsen Bako is the district of the chiefdom where most cassava is grown and it is
an area with a wide ethnic mix of nomadics, Christians and Muslims, living
harmoniously together. The farmers there were excited by the prospect of being able to
team up together in a cassava-growing co-operative, yet despite their industriousness,
their district has never been granted potable water and this would have to be addressed
by this project, as clean water is required in cassava processing. Potable water is
unavailable in others of the ten Ikulu districts, but most of all the chiefdom has no
staffed or equipped medical facility and villagers stated categorically that money they
earned would go to this as a priority, if they were fortunate to have an investor in a
plant.
Plant types and Production
A small plant for a low quality ethanol production would cost as little as N72.5m and
would produce around 3,000 litres of ethanol per day, from 10-12 tonnes of the product,
depending on starch content. A small plant such as this would require around 300
hectares of cassava crop to feed it on an annual basis.
A larger plant producing 4,000 high quality litres of ethanol would likely cost N155m or
more and would require 400 hectares of cassava. Clearly larger plants are available
and many have been set up in other countries with overseas or national aid. Nigeria is
the second largest producer of cassava after Brazil, the world’s largest ethanol
producer, yet there are few ethanol plants as yet in Nigeria. When ethanol is in such
high demand, gearing such plants to impact on disadvantaged rural areas must be a
very cost effective strategy for rural development, not simply a sustainable and
worthwhile business.
A larger plant still could easily be sustained in Ikululand, where there are 100,000 or
more residents. The assessment of this is beyond the scope of this report, but perhaps
5,000-10000 or even more hectares of cassava and other biofuel crops could be farmed
with appropriate planning and land clearance.

In addition to this, the development of a biofuel industry in Nigeria, alongside its

unwieldy oil industry, could have significant benefits in overall productivity; as such fuels
can be used more cost effectively to support power (NEPA) loss, which is frequent in
Nigeria and Africa. Consistent power brings a more productive culture and far less
downtime.

NNPC have indicated a willingness to buy any ethanol produced in Ikulu chiefdom, but,
as yet, no firm price has been acquired, nor any indication of the quality requirement.
There may also be a local market, as many machines can be converted to run on
ethanol, which may have a beneficial impact on local businesses in Southern Kaduna, if
support services for ethanol conversion can be obtained.

Cassava produced for ethanol also has by-products, which can be used, so increased
production for biofuels will also encourage the investment in the production of other
types of products for transport into Kaduna, Kachia, Kafanchan or further afield.

Current farmers in Ikulu are unmechanised and some simple investment could increase
productivity markedly, not just in cassava, but in other crops too.
 Lack of mechanisation is reducing output
Why Ethanol?
Ethanol has a number of advantages over normal petroleum

• It is not poisonous.
• It does not cause air pollution or any environmental hazard.
• It does not contribute to the greenhouse effect problem (CO2 addition to the
atmosphere, causing global warming).
• It has a higher octane rating than petrol as a fuel. That is, ethanol is an octane
booster and anti-knocking agent.
• It is an excellent raw material for synthetic chemicals.
• Ethanol reduces country’s dependence on petroleum and it is a source of non-oil
revenue for any producing country.

If carefully produced, it is also a self-sustaining fuel, i.e. it costs less energy to produce
it than it produces itself. Excellent advances in technology are still to come in ethanol
production from scrap wood chips and cellulose products (weeds, leaves etc.) This will
actually enhance production from cassava, as more of the crop will be able to be turned
into ethanol.

The Kyoto accord has approved of ethanol development as an important means of

reducing the levels of global warming.