Former cricketer on sticky wicket over biofuel

By Alistair DawberMonday, 1 September 2008

Phil Edmonds, right, the former England spin bowler turned miner, is said to be annoyed about the press his businesses get for operating in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe, because other, bigger, companies operate in the same region and don't get so much stick.
He should probably get used to it as his latest venture is no less controversial. Today MrEdmonds is set to list Bioenergy Africa on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim), which will operate biofuel projects in Mozambique and has raised £8.6m from the IPO. The topic of biofuels can get people's hackles up, as they argue that the land used to generate ethanol could be better used to grow crops for food, keeping the cost of feeding people lower.
Bioenergy Africa counters by saying that the land in Mozambique had already been set aside for such a project and that by 2013, it plans to employ 7,000 local people. What is more, the groupundertakes feedingprogrammes that cater for as many as 1.5million in southern Africa.
All that is genuinely very commendable, and at the same time,because there is great demand for biofuel, Bioenergy Africa islikely to be a commercial success. MrEdmonds, however, probably cannot complain too much that he gets a few googlies from critics when he mines for platinum in Zimbabwe, and uses land that could grow food in Mozambique for the production of fuel.