Biofuels, Land Grabbing and Food Security in Africa

Energy crises and climate change have generated global demands for alternative non-fossil fuel sources. This has led to a rapid increase of investments in production of liquid biofuels based on agricultural feed stocks such as sugar cane. Most African governments see biofuels as a potential for increasing agricultural productivity and export incomes and thus strengthening their national economies, improving energy balances and rural employment. At the same time climate change may be addressed through reduction of green house gas emissions. There are, however, a number of uncertainties mounting that challenge this scenario. Using in-depth African case studies -- with Brazil as a comparative reference -- this book addresses this knowledge gap by examining the impacts of large-scale biofuel production on African agriculture, particularly with regard to vital land outsourcing and food security issues. The surge for African biofuels has also opened space for private investors -- both domestic and external -- to multiply and network "independently" of the state. The biofuel expansion thus generates new economic alliances and production relations, resulting in new forms of inclusions and exclusions within the rural population. This is an essential book for anyone wishing to understand the startling impact of biofuels on Africa.

Prosper B. Matondi (PhD) is the Executive Director of Ruzivo Trust, a not for profit organization based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Kjell Havnevik (PhD) is senior researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute. Atakilte Beyene is a researcher in rural development. He is based at the Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

Introduction: Biofuels, Food Security and Land Outsourcing * Land Rights, Livelihoods Justice and the Internationalization of the Search for Food Security and Energy * Peak Oil, and the Push for Bio-fuel by Industrialized Nations * Suspending People’s Resource Rights: The Demand for Foreign Direct Investment in Africa in the Context of Innovations on Bio-fuels * Smallholder-Led Transformation Towards Bio-fuel Production in Ethiopia * Bio-fuel, Land Outsourcing and the Process of Environmental and Social Impact  Assessment in Tanzania * The Push for Bio-fuels in the Context of the Political Economy Crisis in Zimbabwe *  The Effect of the Spread of Jatropha Production on Food Security in Northern Ghana * Who Governs Bio-fuels?: Lessons and Reflections on Social Inclusion and Bio-diesel Policy in Brazil. What Can Africa Learn? * Lessons and Reflections on Brazilian Ethanol Development. What Can Africa Learn? * Setting A New Agenda for Smallholder Farmers in the Context of Bio-fuels: A Synthesis * Setting A New Agenda for Smallholder Farmers in the Context of Bio-fuels: A Synthesis