The demand for biofuel in the European Union is fuelling land grabbing in Africa, reducing the land available to grow crops in a continent that already faces food deficit situation, a new report has said.

The EU is targeting to use at least 10 percent biofuel by 2020 for its transport and companies are seizing land in Africa to produce biofuel to feed into this demand.

The report entitled "Africa: Up for Grabs" was released by an environmental group, Friends of the Earth.

"Growing European and international demand for biofuels as a transport fuel is creating market demand for biofuels. While African politicians may promise that biofuels will bring locally sourced energy supplies to their countries, the reality is that most of the foreign companies are developing biofuels to sell on the international market," said the report released on Friday.

It said studies suggest that a third of the land sold or acquired in Africa is intended for fuel crops, some 5 million hectares.

The report profiles land-grab cases that have happened in 11 African countries, most of which is being used or intended to be used to grow biofuel crops like Jatropha and palm oil.

The report said while some of this land is sold outright to private companies, state companies or investment funds, most is leased and some is obtained through contracting with the farmers to grow specific crops, known as "out growing".

The report was done based on evidence from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Swaziland, Angola, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Benin and Nigeria, among others.

It said in Ethiopia for example, land inside an elephant sanctuary was cleared to make way for biofuels.

"Just as African countries have seen fossil fuels and other natural resources exploited for the benefit of richer countries, there is a risk that biofuels, and with them, Africa's agricultural land and natural resources, will be exported abroad with minimal benefit for local communities and national economies. "

It said a number of, often small, EU companies are involved, sometimes with support or involvement from their national government.

Many are keen to vaunt the social and environmental benefits of their business, offering employment and the promise of development to rural areas.

"Many of the host countries have encouraged this investment, keen to develop a potentially lucrative export crop," it said.

A similar report released last year by the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) found that in Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali and Sudan, 2.4 million hectares of land had been transferred in land deals since 2004.

A separate study by the International Food Policy Research Institute estimated that 20 million hectares of land have been sold since 2006 in land deals, with 9 million hectares acquired in Africa.

– Xinhua