As part of the project, the Executive promulgated a decree to promote the production of oil species.
The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, made official a decree that seeks to promote oil palm plantations, in order to produce biodiesel in the country and reduce dependence on fuel imports.
The document, signed in July, was officially presented on Tuesday during the commemoration of the “Day of the Agrarian, Productive and Community Revolution” in the Cochabamba region, before hundreds of peasants and indigenous militants of the Movement for Socialism (MAS).
During his speech, Arce stressed that Bolivia imports diesel and gasoline, fuels used by the peasants in the machinery and transportation of its production towards the cities, for which he considered that this dependency should “change”.
En el Día de la Revolución Agraria, Productiva y Comunitaria, estamos felices de llegar a Ucureña, #Cochabamba, a casi 70 años de la firma del DS de la Reforma Agraria en estas tierras, conquista alcanzada gracias a la lucha del movimiento indígena originario campesino. pic.twitter.com/ksoNPqrrqE
— Luis Alberto Arce Catacora (Lucho Arce) (@LuchoXBolivia) August 2, 2022
For this reason, he announced that the Andean country will bet on the production of “oil species”, such as African palm and jatropha, to generate its own fuels.
“We are going to start producing our own diesel“, said the president . However, in his speech he made it clear that the priority must be to guarantee food by “substituting imports”, given the “profound economic and social crisis” that the world is going through.
The plan
The Government of Bolivia signed in July a supreme decree that creates the Program for the Promotion of the Production of Oil Species , within the framework of the import substitution industrialization policy, to produce biodiesel. an investment of around 300 million dollars to build an ecological diesel production complex, including the Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils plant.
According to the project, YPFB would work with the Ministries of Rural Development and Productive Development in planting, harvesting and industrializing tion of raw materials.
At the moment, the tenders, the land preparation process and the soil tests have already begun for two biodiesel plants with FAME technology (biofuel produced through the transesterification of oils vegetables), next to the refinery that is in Santa Cruz, according to informs ABI.
Biodiesel and renewable diesel can be produced from vegetable oils. The most common raw materials for this purpose are soybeans, cusi and African palm, which occur in the north of La Paz, Pando and Beni.
Not everyone agrees
The National Coordinator for the Defense of Native Indigenous Territories and Peasant Areas Protegidas de Bolivia (Contiocap) lamented the decision of the Bolivian Government, in an open letter to Francia Márquez, the next vice president of Colombia.
Hacemos pública esta CARTA ABIERTA a la hermana @FranciaMarquezM, vice presidenta electa de #Colombia, quien visita nuestro país #Bolivia pic.twitter.com/1NCpExmgs4
— CONTIOCAP (@contiocap) August 1, 2022
During Márquez’s visit to La Paz, the Last Monday, the movement considered that the project of the Bolivian Government for the promotion of oil palm plantations, with the purpose of producing biodiesel, “represents threats of more deforestation of the Amazon and in other regions of Bolivia”.
Contiocap considers that palm monoculture could impact biodiversity and the environment.
If you liked it, share it with your friends!
