An Economic Evaluation of Soybean-Based Biodiesel Production on Commercial Farms in the Soybean-Producing Regions of KwaZulu-Natal: Some Preliminary Results

Global biofuel production has risen substantially in recent years, driven primarily by government support for biofuel industries. The stated motivations for these initiatives are numerous and have varied over time. Soybeans are the only field crop produced in sufficient quantities in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) that the South African (SA) industrial biofuel strategy identifies as a potential biodiesel feedstock. Preliminary results from a mixed integer linear programming model support the notion of Funke et al. (2009), who contend that the incentives and commitments outlined by the industrial biofuel strategy are inadequate to both establish and sustain a domestic biodiesel industry.