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GOVERNMENT has said it is defending business tycoon Billy Rauntenbach’s ethanol project in Chisumbanje where Chipinge villagers have opposed operations following a land dispute.
Rautenbach’s Green Fuel is in partnership with the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) which contributed more than 20,000 hectares of land at the center of a property dispute with villagers.
Green Fuel enjoys a monopoly in the supply of ethanol for gasoline blending.
Addressing villagers in the Chinyamukwakwa area of ​​Chisumbanje on Saturday, Lands and Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka described the Rautenbach ethanol project as a “national programme”, adding that the government had no tolerance for troublemakers.
“We are here in the Garahwa community for this collaboration between Green Fuel and Arda on vast hectares of land that were given to them to carry out a national program of growing sugar cane to produce ethanol that is mixed with petrol,” said Masuka.
“The value of Green Fuel to our country is that every year it produces 80 million liters of ethanol which is transported to Harare which will be mixed with imported petrol to make E20 petrol. Green Fuel is a very important company in the country, which It is because we do not tolerate disrupters. If we feel that Green Fuel has been disturbed by the production, we start questioning, wapindwa nemweya waLegion here? (Have you been possessed by the spirit of Legion?). Please, reprimand one by one other against dreams and deeds. do not try to disturb the national programs.”
Rautenbach is one of the few white commercial farmers who were offered land at the height of the country’s compulsory land acquisition program in 2000 which saw most former white commercial farmers lose their land .
The ethanol company has established community irrigation schemes in the Chinyamukwakwa area, benefiting hundreds of community farmers.
Hundreds of villagers were also engaged for various menial jobs in Green Fuel’s sugar cane fields and ethanol production factory.
Green Fuel spokesperson Merit Rumema said: “Before the ethanol project, the Chipinge district was considered one of the least developed areas in Zimbabwe due to the region’s harsh five climate conditions. Currently, more than 2 million dollars are injected into South Chipinge every month in the south. form of salaries and procurement finance, which has resulted in a significantly increased commercial traffic. Local businesses are thriving and social services such as health facilities, roads , churches and schools continue to be renewed and revived by Green Fuel.”
Green Fuel plans to increase production, aiming to produce 90 million liters of ethanol next year.
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