An official from seed giant Monsanto has said that it agrees with the government’s stance of excluding maize from any biofuels programmes as the country is still not producing enough of the crop.

"I think it's a very good thing to support biofuels and renewable energy, but South Africa at the moment is not producing enough maize to go into biofuels production," said Arthur Schroder, according to Reuters.

The government first removed maize from the list of crops that could be used in its biofuels strategy two years ago, citing concerns over food security.

"For South Africa at the moment, setting up a biofuels plan for maize is very risky, so I think it is wise to look at a biofuels programme focusing on other products," added Schroder.