Feasibility Study on Bio-Fuels for Food Security through Income Generation of Rural Poor in Cambodia
Date published:
16/12/2007
On 18th of December 2007 MAFF and FAO organized a workshop in Cambodiana Hotel to disseminate the preliminary results of a study on "
Biofuel energy for food security and income generation of rural poor in Cambodia". The study showed that there is a great potential for domestic bio-fuel production in Cambodia with large income generation opportunities for farmers. (
Agenda of the workshop)
Specifically "Jatropha curcas", a drought resistant plant which is widely used in Cambodia for fencing and can be grown on marginal lands seems to be an appropriate option for bio-diesel production. Since oil prices have increased drastically the last year to over 90$/barrel, Jatropha has become very popular in Cambodia and several large scale private plantations are being established on economic land concessions. Besides providing the opportunity for large scale employment generation, the promotion of bio-energy resources could reduce Cambodia's dependency on fossil oil and contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and related global warming. However, potential forest conversion and limiting access of the poor to common property resources, negative impact of bio-fuel production on soil fertility and social conflicts related to land access may counteract the benefits and demand careful balanced policies, standards and regulations .
The FAO bio-fuel business models presented during the workshop emphasize the integration of Jatropha in smallholder farming systems and oil extraction and marketing at community level to maximize benefits and ownership for farmers, to contribute to rural enterprise development as well as to rural electrification. With an initial investment of 250$/ha it is expected to have a return of 375$/ha after 4 years which exceeds by far returns from rice production. However, access to credits with lower interest rate is a crucial constraint to expand farmer-centered Jatropha plantation in Cambodia.
Jatropha as a non food and non animal feeding crop has the advantage not to compete with food production, but food insecure and poor farmers may not directly benefit from this farmer-centered bio-fuel strategy as they do often not have sufficient land endowment to integrate Jatropha in their farming system (the study recommends Jatropha planting for farmers having more than 2,5 ha farmland). However, significant benefits may arise for the poor from additional rural wage labor employment through the establishment and maintenance of Jatropha plantations (at local or at large scale level).
According to scenarios developed by "The International Food Policy Research Institute" (IFPR) bio-fuel production is likely to contribute significantly to world-wide food price increases and may negatively affect the purchasing power of net food buyers and the food intake of poor and food-insecure people (www.ifpri.org/pubs/books/ar2005/ar2005_essay.asp ). From a food security and nutrition perspective, it is essential to mitigate these negative global effects, to examine carefully the impact of national bio-fuel production on the livelihoods of the poor and food insecure, and to balance risks and opportunities in policies and strategies.
Source institution:
FAO
Contributor:
FSNIS
,
card@online.com.kh