Biomass for fuel: Opportunity or threat to food and feed security, Case studies for farms in Brazil and Mozambique

In a very short period of time demand for biomass for bio-fuel has increased enormously. This use of biomass is competing with biomass for food and feed, resulting in almost unprecedented effects on agricultural markets and natural resource use. The development poses both threats and opportunities to family farms and their livelihoods in developing countries. From an environmental and socio-economic viewpoint the developments seem to have ambiguous effects, whereas internationally criteria are drafted to ensure that production meets sustainability criteria. This proposal aims at assessing the possibilities and limitations of biomass for bio-fuel production on family farms in two regions in Mozambique and Brazil. Alternative farming options (crops, livestock and their management) are assessed in a whole-farm context such that trade-offs between environmental and socio-economic benefits and costs are revealed at farm level. At regional levels competition for resource allocation between food, feed and fuel production will become visible. As the bio-energy chain typically requires large quantities of biomass with continuous supply, the organisation of farms towards the bio-fuel chain is essential. The research therefore also assesses alternative organizational models and governance structure for the farmer-processor transaction. The research aims at developing generic methods, such that the methods can be applied to the regions in Mozambique and Brazil but are also re-usable for other regions where similar issues are at stake. The methods include sets of indicators capturing the socio-economic and environmental issues, bio-economic farm models that allow integrated assessment of these indicators and a framework to assess various organisational ways of linking farms to processors while reducing transaction costs. Opportunities for biomass for bio-fuel are often optimistic, in stressing potentials. The whole farm and farmer-processor perspective of this research enables to assess realistic rather than potential options. The proposed methodology allows assessment of recent policies such as tax exempts for enterprises that source feedstock from family farms for biodiesel production in Brazil and climate change policies proposing economic rewards for carbon sequestration at industry level. We explore whether and how these policies may lead to benefits at farm level. The premise of the research is that integrated assessment informs decision makers in innovation and policy making trajectories, if the scientific work is well contextualized and embedded in societal processes. Extensive consultations and involvement of farmers and their organisations, processors and local, national and international policy agencies in Mozambique, Brazil and the Netherlands enhance chances of science for impact.