Over the past years, there has been a rapid expansion of biofuel development in many Asian countries. A number of governments are promoting biofuel programmes, mainly to achieve energy security, meet the increasing demand for transport fuel, address environmental problems and increase farm income. Policies and regulations have been approved, and some have been adjusted to avoid the potential trade-off between food and biofuel and any adverse impact on food security and the land rights of rural communities.
The food/fuel conflict spurred the search for alternative feedstocks, particularly those that can be grown on underused or marginal land or wasteland, where food crops cannot be grown. Jatropha curcas (Jatropha), in particular, is being considered as a possible option. But there are a number of constraints and unknown areas (low yields, little-known agronomy), not to mention that crop yields increase with more water and on good quality land. In addition, especially considering the densely populated Asian countries, in many cases marginal or wastelands are actually used, often by landless people, for other purposes, such as subsistence agriculture, grazing or fuelwood collection. Another area of concern is the large-scale biofuel expansion, which in many cases is reportedly having negative environmental and social impacts, such as infringements on indigenous peoples’ and labour rights, alienation of land rights of local communities, and clearing of forests.
In this context, the study aims to document good practices in inclusive business models or community investor partnerships that link smallholder farmers and producers growing biofuel crops with public or private agribusiness or processing companies. A diversified range of possible mutually beneficial models/partnerships from India, Thailand and Viet Nam have been selected and illustrated. Under these, the land is not acquired by the companies and remains under the control of farmers, while the crops selected have the potential to avoid any adverse impact on food security and the livelihoods of rural people, as well as to avoid competition between food and biofuel crops for land and water resources. The models/partnerships illustrated do not pretend to be representative or exhaustive of the biofuel industry and investment arrangements in the three countries, but rather aim to illustrate the diversity of possible win/win situations.

By: M. Romano, H. Liversage (IFAD)

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