Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
household landholdings had been reduced because of the arrival of industrial Jatropha
plantations. Due to the serious consequences that can accompany reductions in land-
holding (such as less food security and decreased periods of time to fallow land), it is
prudent that local landholdings are maintained, any decreases in size are minimised
and mitigated and happen through open negotiation, and that traditional access to
land by local people is maintained.
Local landholdings are maintained, decreases in size are
minimised and mitigated
Government policies must support tenure over land for local people in order to prevent
land from being acquired (legally or covertly) by Jatropha companies. Moreover, any
changes in household landholdings must be determined through negotiation and must
be met with compensation that is deemed appropriate by local people. Large-scale
acquisitions of land are not necessarily required to support Jatropha cultivation, and
consideration for any biofuel project should occur on a smaller-scale, as these may
have the best chance of success (Asselbergs et al. 2006). For instance, Diligent Energy
Systems in Tanzania owns no land, instead 'outsourcing' the growing in such a way
that villagers receive the economic benefits such as money for seeds and cultivation,
along with secondary benefits including oil for cooking stoves, lamps, oilseed cake,
soap and fertiliser for use on other crops (Mutch 2010). Local people could benefit
from this type of system, as well as from policies that promote land ownership and
thereby give them increased security (Franken 2009). Projects such as small Jatropha
plantations, agroforestry systems with Jatropha intercropping and agro-silvo-pastoral
systems can also benefit adopting farmers by enabling them to individually limit their
initial investment and control their start-up risk (Achten et al. 2010). Decentralised
and alternative land holding structures, such as village land trusts or equity-based
joint ventures, could be an effective means of stimulating private investment and allow
for greater collaboration between investors and local communities (Sulle et al. 2009).
Decentralised approaches can also benefit the cultivation of Jatropha as they rely on
the development of agricultural knowledge by local farmers to determine the optimal
growing conditions under a range of local conditions (Asselbergs et al. 2006). Coop-
eratives, one such decentralised approach, have been lauded as they “can provide the
scale effects, security and infrastructure needed to balance large-scale producers and
processes'' (Asselbergs et al. 2006).
Traditional access to land by local people is maintained
The cultivation of biofuels can result in changes to land access for poor people through
two routes: direct and indirect (Cotula et al. 2008). Direct changes occur when land use
is transformed into biofuel crop production from other uses, such as farming (Cotula
et al. 2008). The acquisition of large areas of land for biofuel production is a concern
that threatens access to land, fodder and water by the poor in rural areas where land
tenure systems are weak (Brittaine et al. 2010), pushing farmers off their land and
deeper into poverty (Green 2009). In Tamil Nadu, for example, 50% of respondents
reported that their access to fodder was directly reduced by their shift to Jatropha
(the other 50% either did not own cattle or were able to obtain fodder or grazing
from other lands) (Ariza-Montobbio et al. 2010a; 2010b). In the Kisarawe district of
Search WWH ::
Custom Search