South Africa plans to develop its biofuel industry with aims to make biofuels contributing up to three-quarters of its renewable energy needs in near future.

The country's Cabinet has approved a draft industrial strategy for biofuel, which will focus on using excess crop production and expanding the use of underutilized arable land, the government spokesman Themba Maseko said on Thursday.

"Cabinet noted the country has the potential to produce biofuels which could contribute up to 75 percent of our renewable energy by 2013, without negatively impacting on food security or requiring excessive support," he told a press briefing in Pretoria.

He said the capital investment required would be about 6 billion rand (845 million U.S. dollars). Meanwhile the biofuels industry has the potential to create 55,000 agricultural jobs in South Africa.

Biofuels made from crops such as maize, sunflowers and sugarcane are thought to provide a cleaner, sustainable and environment-friendly alternative to fossil fuels, 60 percent of which consumed in South Africa are imported.

Brazil is currently the world's leading producer of bio-ethanol, contributing slightly less than half the world's total, followed by the United States, according to the 2006 Biofuel Market Worldwide report.

Source: Xinhua