FOI Seminar 9 December 2011

Mengistu Assefa (FOI)

 

Biofuels Development in Ethiopia

 

Friday 9 December 2011, 12.30-13.30, Building A, first floor (the B.S. Jørgensen seminar room)

Abstract:

A rapid expansion of biofuel production is underway in developing countries, driven by concerns including climate change, energy security, high oil prices and rural development. Africa is considered to be both one of the globe’s few remaining relatively ´empty´ landmasses, and its countries compete vigorously to attract agro-investment. A recent World Bank report indicates that roughly 32 million hectare of land in Africa has been subject to ‘expressions of interest by investors’ since food and fuel prices began to rise in 2004. Ethiopia is among the leading target countries for oversees agricultural investments, where 1.2 m. ha. has been alienated for large scale agricultural investments until 2010 and out of which more than 300,000 ha has been aligned for biofuel investment. On the other hand, there are many inter-related concerns remains at the local level in relation to large-scale land alienation for biofuel investments and the potential of biofuel in fulfilling its premises. These concerns are related to: (1) the extent to which there has been local participation during planning and implementation of large-scale biofuel development; (2) the impacts of large-scale biofuel production on access to land and other resources, especially for women and rural poor; and (3) the impacts of participation in biofuels feedstock production on rural household’s economic welfare. It is assumed that these factors affect the outcome of biofuel investment depending on the type of biofuel feedstock production (large-scale, outgrowers, or combination of both). Studies on biofuels that actually look at these impacts on the ground at the community level in Africa are rare, and in Ethiopia they are simply not available. The aim of this PhD project is therefore to examine the involvements of local communities during planning and implementation of large-scale biofuels investments and to investigate the impacts of these investments on rural household economic welfare, land property rights, and access to land and water. Semi-structured interviews, focus ground discussions, household survey and field observation will be used for data collection.