ABSTRACT
Since the advent of the industrial revolution, the global appetite for energy has remained insatiable. In recent years, the realisation that the fossil-based development trajectory is unsustainable has translated into the quest for cleaner energy sources including biofuels. To actualise the new ‘green energy crusade’, transnational corporations and governments are actively acquiring large tracts of land in the global south for the purposes of producing biofuel for their home economies in the global north. Although the push for biofuel production is premised on socio-economic benefits for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this chapter argues that the contrary subsists. The paper notes that rather than benefit SSA, the ‘green crusade’ disposes people of their livelihood strategies as they make way for mechanised biofuel production. Furthermore, biofuel production can sometimes erode critical components of people’s identity as they are forcefully removed from their ancestral lands and with, the loss of historical attachments. The chapter concludes that SSA should prioritise food production to combat its food insecurity rather than giving in to the agenda of biofuel production.
