Leveling the field for biofuels: Comparing the economic and environmental impacts of biofuel and other export crops in Malawi
Biofuels often raise the specter of food insecurity, water resource depletion, and greenhouse gas emissions from land clearing. These concerns underpin the “sustainability criteria” governing access to European biofuel markets. However, it is unclear if producing biofuels in low‐income countries doe...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
Wiley
2017
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147949 |
| _version_ | 1855536122611892224 |
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| author | Schuenemann, Franziska Thurlow, James Zeller, Manfred |
| author_browse | Schuenemann, Franziska Thurlow, James Zeller, Manfred |
| author_facet | Schuenemann, Franziska Thurlow, James Zeller, Manfred |
| author_sort | Schuenemann, Franziska |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Biofuels often raise the specter of food insecurity, water resource depletion, and greenhouse gas emissions from land clearing. These concerns underpin the “sustainability criteria” governing access to European biofuel markets. However, it is unclear if producing biofuels in low‐income countries does exacerbate poverty and food insecurity, and moreover, whether the sustainability criteria should apply to all agricultural exports entering European markets. We develop an integrated modeling framework to simultaneously assess the economic and environmental impacts of producing biofuels in Malawi. We incorporate the effects of land use change on crop water use, and the opportunity costs of using scarce resources for biofuels instead of other crops. We find that biofuel production reduces poverty and food insecurity by raising household incomes. Irrigated outgrower schemes, rather than estate farms, lead to better economic outcomes, fewer emissions, and similar water requirements. Nevertheless, to gain access to European markets, Malawi would need to reduce emissions from ethanol plants. We find that biofuels’ economic and emissions outcomes are generally preferable to tobacco or soybeans. We conclude that the sustainability criteria encourage more sustainable biofuel production in countries like Malawi, but are perhaps overly biased against biofuels since other export crops raise similar concerns about food security and environmental impacts. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace147949 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| publisherStr | Wiley |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1479492025-03-03T19:57:36Z Leveling the field for biofuels: Comparing the economic and environmental impacts of biofuel and other export crops in Malawi Schuenemann, Franziska Thurlow, James Zeller, Manfred economic growth bioenergy fuels biofuels water food security Biofuels often raise the specter of food insecurity, water resource depletion, and greenhouse gas emissions from land clearing. These concerns underpin the “sustainability criteria” governing access to European biofuel markets. However, it is unclear if producing biofuels in low‐income countries does exacerbate poverty and food insecurity, and moreover, whether the sustainability criteria should apply to all agricultural exports entering European markets. We develop an integrated modeling framework to simultaneously assess the economic and environmental impacts of producing biofuels in Malawi. We incorporate the effects of land use change on crop water use, and the opportunity costs of using scarce resources for biofuels instead of other crops. We find that biofuel production reduces poverty and food insecurity by raising household incomes. Irrigated outgrower schemes, rather than estate farms, lead to better economic outcomes, fewer emissions, and similar water requirements. Nevertheless, to gain access to European markets, Malawi would need to reduce emissions from ethanol plants. We find that biofuels’ economic and emissions outcomes are generally preferable to tobacco or soybeans. We conclude that the sustainability criteria encourage more sustainable biofuel production in countries like Malawi, but are perhaps overly biased against biofuels since other export crops raise similar concerns about food security and environmental impacts. 2017 2024-06-21T09:23:33Z 2024-06-21T09:23:33Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147949 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153125 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151109 https://purl.umn.edu/169903 https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12335 Wiley Schuenemann, Franziska; Thurlow, James; and Zeller, Manfred. 2017. Leveling the field for biofuels: Comparing the economic and environmental impacts of biofuel and other export crops in Malawi. Agricultural Economics 48(3): 301-315. https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12335 |
| spellingShingle | economic growth bioenergy fuels biofuels water food security Schuenemann, Franziska Thurlow, James Zeller, Manfred Leveling the field for biofuels: Comparing the economic and environmental impacts of biofuel and other export crops in Malawi |
| title | Leveling the field for biofuels: Comparing the economic and environmental impacts of biofuel and other export crops in Malawi |
| title_full | Leveling the field for biofuels: Comparing the economic and environmental impacts of biofuel and other export crops in Malawi |
| title_fullStr | Leveling the field for biofuels: Comparing the economic and environmental impacts of biofuel and other export crops in Malawi |
| title_full_unstemmed | Leveling the field for biofuels: Comparing the economic and environmental impacts of biofuel and other export crops in Malawi |
| title_short | Leveling the field for biofuels: Comparing the economic and environmental impacts of biofuel and other export crops in Malawi |
| title_sort | leveling the field for biofuels comparing the economic and environmental impacts of biofuel and other export crops in malawi |
| topic | economic growth bioenergy fuels biofuels water food security |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147949 |
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