Eni and the production of biofuels in the Congo: peasant lands and livelihoods at stake

In 2021, renewable energies were at the heart of a partnership agreement signed by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and Eni, the oil and liquefied natural gas company. This commitment was part of a strategy that the company has been pursuing for several years. In fact, Eni already produces biofuels made from controversial palm oil by-products imported from Indonesia and Malaysia.

The company has set itself ambitious growth targets in this field. According to its latest forecasts, it plans to increase its global biorefinery capacity from 1.65 million tonnes per year to 5 million tonnes of biofuels and over 2 million tonnes of sustainable aviation fuels by 2030.

In order to achieve this, Eni is launching a large-scale programme to produce vegetable oil-based biofuels in several African countries, including Kenya, Mozambique, Côte d’Ivoire and, in particular, the Republic of the Congo.

Eni, an Italian company based in Rome, has been present in the Congo since 1968, initially operating under the name Agip Recherche.

In 2021, Eni announced plans to harvest 200,000 tonnes of castor oil from 150,000 hectares of land in the Congo by 2030. A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Italian company and the Congolese government confirming this ambitious plan.

According to the parties to the agreement, the project will create 90,000 jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the local and international press, the message was clear: Eni supports energy decarbonisation in African countries, Eni is accelerating the energy transition, Eni is now focusing on producing renewable energies with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

Anyone would be forgiven for thinking this is a win-win situation, but the reality on the ground tells quite a different story.

In early 2023, in the district of Mayama, Eni Congo announced a castor bean plantation pilot project on peasant lands.

To begin with, 1,200 peasant farmers, in a vulnerable position following decades of resistance against the national army, were drawn in by the promise of higher earnings and agreed to abandon their traditional crops in favour of castor beans. In addition to the implications of this change on their cultural identity, each peasant farmer had to pay CFA 10,000 (US$ 18) to take part in the project. However, as no technical support has been provided by Eni Congo since that date, these farmers are now facing food insecurity.

According to one of the farmers we met in Mayama, who wished to remain anonymous, “the company assured us that the payment of CFA 10,000 was the first step. In our enthusiasm for the project, we each paid this amount, formed groups and began preparing the land. But since 2023, there has been no technical support or any distribution of castor plant seeds, as promised. We believe that it was a way for the company to manipulate and lie to us.”

During the second phase, to reach the target of 150,000 hectares,100 hectares of peasant lands in Mayama were targeted. New promises were made to landowners from among the 1,200 peasant farmers who had joined the project. This time, they were promised higher earnings if they leased their lands. “We had a discussion with an Eni Congo manager who asked us to lease 100 hectares of land for this project. Several sites were selected without any written agreement being signed”, explains a peasant landowner and community chief in Mayama. Fortunately for these farmers, no castor crops were planted as no lease agreement was ever signed with the company.

Following the failure of this pilot project on land belonging to the Mayama communities, Eni has been launching a series of other initiatives that have yielded little success, this time in partnership with agricultural companies.

In 2016, Agri Ressources Congo, a subsidiary of the Agri Resources Group (the agricultural branch of Monaco Resources Group) signed a long-term lease agreement with peasant landowners covering 29,000 hectares in Louvako. This lease, which should have benefited the communities, ended up working against them.

As soon as the project got underway, the communities’ crops were destroyed without even waiting for them to be ready to harvest. Indeed, according to information gathered by The Continent press agency, in March 2024, “They moved in and started destroying the fields. When they ransacked the plantations, they didn’t even ask the plantation owners to come and take their cassava crops.” Following a series of legal battles, Agri Ressources has been ordered to pay around US$ 24,000 in compensation to 57 farmers.

Agri Ressources was then hit by a financial crisis following legal action brought by a shareholder over allegations of fraud reported in the press, which affected the rental income from the lease. This situation severely impacted the livelihoods of peasant farming communities who had leased their land. Martine Moussahou, whose family leased land to Agri Ressources, told The Continent that “her quarterly rental fees had stopped coming due to a “financial crisis” at the company.”

Agri Ressources then used 300 hectares of the 29,000 hectares of private peasant lands covered by the lease, on which crops were destroyed, to trial a pilot castor oil plantation project with Eni. During an interview granted to Transport & Environment and carried out on the plantation in June 2023, Manuel Saunieme, a technical manager at Agri Ressources, stated that the company had “just completed a very successful first trial of castor oil crops and we await the release of funds from Eni to begin planting in October [2023].” However, five months later, Agri Ressources’s chief accountant, Bon Samaritain Biene Biene, stated that, “the expected yield was not conclusive in view of the projections that we had made.” As a result, “the November rainy season that was supposed to be used for large scale planting was “missed”.”

Tolona Farm, set up by two Spaniards and a Frenchman, holds a 20,000-hectare long-term lease agreement signed with the Congolese government for the cultivation of maize and tomatoes. This lease is being contested by farming communities, who accuse the government of having, through the Ministry of Land Affairs, facilitated the land grab of this considerable surface area.

According to information gathered by OPEDH in Loudima in October 2025, a peasant landowner reported that, “We own this land. However, the government is asking us to complete some administrative formalities to have our lands recognised, a complex procedure which requires substantial funds. As we do not hold a title deed, our customary lands were handed over to the Tolona company. From that point on, we found ourselves cornered and powerless to oppose it.”

It was on this land that a trial castor oil plant was established in 2023. A Tolona staff member interviewed by Transport & Environment stated that, “the trial was “a success”, except that “we didn't get any machines from Eni-Congo to harvest the beans, so everything dried up in the grass”.

In 2025, the European Investment Bank granted 500 million euros to Eni to convert its refinery in Livorno, Italy. During the same year, a vegetable oil extraction plant, using sunflower, soybeans, castor beans and many other plants, was inaugurated in Loudima in the Republic of the Congo. According to an Eni press release, vegetable oil extracted in the plant will be sent to biorefineries run by Eni’s “Enilive” branch where it will be converted into biofuel to supply European transport sectors.

Guido Brusco, Director of Global Operations at Eni’s Global Natural Resources division, stated that “since February 2025, Eni Congo has already planted 15,000 hectares” and it planned to reach 40,000 hectares by the end of 2025. Eni’s target of reaching 150,000 hectares remains unchanged. The recent publication of the company’s actions underpin its commitment to pursuing its objective of cultivating agri-feedstock for biofuels in the Republic of the Congo on degraded land identified in coordination with the local authorities.

Given the allegations surrounding Eni’s associated companies and concerns regarding Eni’s investments in tar sands and palm oil in the Congo, local peasant farming communities have sent a message to Eni’s potential shareholders via the Organisation for the Protection of the Environment and Human Rights (Organisation pour la Protection de l’Environnement et les Droits humains - OPEDH): “These are ancestral and peasant lands. These are their pastures, their homeland and the source of their food sovereignty. Eni must put a stop to its deceitful project and its expansionist agricultural policy on peasant lands. The Congo is not a testing ground for extractive industries. Peasant lands will not be leased under informal contracts.”

In addition to the Congo, other biofuel initiatives are underway in several African countries: