Voices from the field – Biomass for fuel

11 april 2011

Experiences of WOTRO researchers in their Ph.D. or post-doc projects
The Brazilian PhD researcher Joao Dal Belo Leite takes part of the WOTRO Integrated Programme ‘Biomass for fuel: Opportunity or threat to food and feed security, Case studies for farms in Brazil and Mozambique’. This IP is coordinated by Dr. van Ittersum (WUR) and Prof. Zylbersztajn (Departemento de Administração, Brazil). Joao tells us about his research in Brazil.

Where is your research about?
Recently there has been an increasing demand for alternative sources of energy in response to the soaring prices of fossil fuel and climate concerns. Government bodies in both developed and developing countries are keen to develop energy from biomass as a response to the energy crisis. However, there are increasing worries regarding the competition of biomass for food and feed. Moreover, it forms both threats and opportunities to family farms and their livelihoods in developing countries.
In our programme, we study this issue in Brazil, as well as in Mozambique. I focus on potential bioenergy suppliers in Brazil, as it becomes essential for Brazil to understand how such production will be done and how it performs in terms of agroecological and socioeconomic sustainability criteria.

What is new about your research methods?
To explore the impact of biodiesel crops among poor family farms in Brazil, we are planning to use bioeconomic farm models (BEFMs). These models can be useful to assess current and alternative scenarios for biodiesel feedstock production in Brazil. The use of BEFM to explore land use activities is innovative as it is not a common research tool in Brazil. Furthermore, the BEFM will be supported by economic theories which can strengthen our understanding on main drawbacks faced by family farms when they try to find new market opportunities.

Which fieldwork experience will you never forget?
A remarkable experience was to arrive in my second research area. It is a transition area between a semi-arid, hilly region towards the Brazilian cerrado with almost endless horizons. It was very impressive to leave an area where farmers crop no more than one hectare of maize and/or beans to an area with average farms of 80 hectares; a totally different farm environment.

What motivates you to do this research?
Bioenergy is a quite hot topic recently and I believe it will stay that way. The Brazilian government is keen to develop energy from biomass for self-consumption and exportation. Furthermore, energy and food crisis is an old and relevant discussion for the future. Being part of that discussion and hopefully making contributions with the agricultural background that I have, would please me a lot.

What are the differences between Brazil and Mozambique?
When tackling the bioenergy issue in Brazil the discussion is mainly on food or fuel. Farmers could potentially choose between food or energy crops based on their profitability, since income is the main constrain. In Africa, where food availability might be a problem, bioenergy crops could complement family household income but not completely replace it. Food security at the family household level has to be ensured by improving their socioeconomic and/or subsistence status. In this context, crops that can be used both for energy and food production are especially important.

What is the main result of your research so far?
What we had underlined so far is that the Brazilian biodiesel policy was implemented under a quite broad definition of family farms. Under such policy, poorer family farms are the ones who face the most challenging setbacks when trying to be engaged in the biodiesel crop market. High specificity biodiesel crops, lack of market options and trust in the biodiesel contracts are some of the issues that hamper the biodiesel crop production to take-off.