RSB supports Selokong Sa Dimelana: developing smallholders

Sponsored by the Boeing Corporate Global Citizenship Program, the RSB is supporting Selokong Sa Dimelana (SSD), meaning rich soil, which works with emerging and smallholder farmers in rural Limpopo, South Africa, to grow castor trees and harvest their beans. The beans are then processed at WITS University in Johannesburg into alternative aviation fuel. While the project is still a pilot at this stage, the farmers will soon be producing enough to sell the castor beans for cosmetics & lubricants, biofuel, and castor cake fertiliser.

The RSB is assisting the programme with sustainability training for farmers and programme co-ordinators, sustainability risk assessments, assistance to develop a chain of custody system for quality control and scalability, and compiling a lifecycle GHG assessment for the biofuel supply chain which will provide a proven end-product claim on emissions reduction.