Overview

The last decade has witnessed major crises in both food and energy security across the world. One response to the challenges of climate change and energy supply has been the development of crops to be used for biofuels. But, as this book shows, this can divert agricultural land from food production to energy crops, thus affecting food security, particularly in less developed countries. The author analyses the extent to which biofuels feedstocks fit within the national food security strategy, agro-export orientation, and rural development plans and policies of developing economies. Two case studies, from Tanzania in East Africa and Borneo in Malaysia, are considered in detail, using the non-edible crop of jatropha as an example of how compromises can be reached to balance food and energy goals as well as export markets. The author develops a novel integrated approach, the Institutional Feasibility Study, as the basis of her analysis. She addresses key issues such as: how do global initiatives for green growth, energy security and sustainable development incorporate biofuels industry development? Does global biofuels trade present meaningful foreign and local investment opportunities for developing countries? To what extent does biofuels feedstock production help with poverty reduction and agricultural sector modernization? What role do the EU and the US commitments to biofuels blending targets play in the rapid industry development in developing countries? How does the biofuels industry fit within existing formal and informal institutional frameworks? Who are the winners and losers in the biofuels global value chain?

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9780415729703

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Reviews

Nazia Mintz-Habib's fascinating study explores how, and in what circumstances, biofuel crops contribute to either perpetuating or alleviating poverty and food insecurity by considering the complex interactions among agricultural commodity and energy markets, climate change mitigation finance and farming communities. - Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Coordinator for Economic and Social Development, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Nazia Mintz-Habib's fascinating study explores how, and in what circumstances, biofuel crops contribute to either perpetuating or alleviating poverty and food insecurity by considering the complex interactions among agricultural commodity and energy markets, climate change mitigation finance and farming communities. - Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Coordinator for Economic and Social Development, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This book provides a highly original application of the Institutional Feasibility framework to the analysis of developing countries' role within global value chains in primary commodities. It makes a valuable contribution to public policy and development studies. - Peter Nolan, Chong Hua Professor and Director, Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge, UK.

Author Information

Nazia Mintz-Habib is Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, UK. She was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA, and also a Research Fellow in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK.

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