Your search found 4 records
1 Amarasinghe, Upali; Eriyagama, Nishadi; Soda, Wannipa. 2010. Growing biofuel demand in Thailand and Malaysia: water use and impacts. Project report submitted to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) under the project, “Comparative assessment of water usage and impacts arising from biofuel projects in South East Asian Countries” Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 36p.
Biofuels ; Water footprint ; Sugarcane ; Cassava ; Palm oils ; Ethanol ; Irrigation water ; Water use ; Water pollution ; Groundwater / South East Asia / Thailand / Malaysia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H043429)
(0.50 MB)
Report submitted to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) under the project, “Comparative assessment of water usage and impacts arising from biofuel projects in South East Asian Countries”, commissioned by the Letter of Agreement No LOA/RAP/2009/38.Thailand and Malaysia are two south East Asian countries with rapidly growing biofuel demand. Increasing use of biofuel envisages reducing dependence of petroleum products for transport and mitigating environmental impacts by reducing carbon emissions. It also expects to contribute to rural development and poverty reduction. However, the impacts of expanding production of feedstock for biofuel on water supply are not well understood. This paper assesses the water footprints and impacts of sugarcane molasses and cassava based bioethanol in Thailand, and palm oil based biodiesel in Malaysia. The water footprint of a commodity or service is the water depleted in its life cycle of its production or consumption.The total water footprints of sugarcane molasses and cassava bioethanol production in Thailand are estimated to be 1,646 and 2,304 m3/tonne, respectively, and of palm oil biodiesel in Malaysia is 3,730 m3/tonne. However, the contributions from irrigation are only a small fraction --9.0, 0.7 and 0.3%-- of the total water footprints of molasses and cassava bioethanol, and palm oil biodiesel respectively. In terms of irrigation water use,cassava is a better feedstock for bioethanol production than sugarcane molasses.In Thailand, the total annual irrigation water footprints in bioethanol production --54 million m3 (mcm) for molasses and 15 mcm for cassava-- is only 0.02% of the total renewable water resources. In Malaysia, total annual irrigation water footprint of palm oil biodiesel production is only 0.001% of the total renewable water resources. A significant spatial variation of irrigation water footprints of molasses based ethanol exists across provinces in Thailand, indicating potential for reducing water footprints.The total irrigation water footprints in biofuel production in the future in both countries will also be negligible in comparison to total water availability. However, the impact of wastewater generated in the production processes can have significant impacts on quality of local water resources. A part of the waste water, called ‘spent wash’, is applied as fertilizer, and over use of it can affect soil and neighboring water resources. The proposed plans on biofuel production in the future can generate more ‘spent wash’ than that can be used in crop fields as fertilizer. Spent wash has found to have high PH value, temperature, biological and chemical oxygen contents etc. The usual practice of storing spent wash in a pond for a long period near a plant can have detrimental impact on soil, streams’ and groundwater quality.In sum, this study concludes that from the perspective of quantity of irrigation water use, the increasing biofuel production does not pose a major problem in Thailand or in Malaysia, and cassava is a better feedstock than sugarcane molasses for bioethanol production. However, the quality of water resources with increasing effluents generated by the biofuel plants could be a major environmental bottleneck to guard against.
2 Amarasinghe, Upali A.; Damen, B.; Eriyagama, Nishadi; Soda, W.; Smakhtin, Vladimir. 2011. Impacts of rising biofuel demand on local water resources: case studies in Thailand and Malaysia. [Report of the IWMI-FAO Bioenergy in Asia and the Pacific Project]. Bangkok, Thailand: FAO. 35p.
Bioenergy ; Biofuels ; Water resources ; Water depletion ; Water use ; Water quality ; Wastewater ; Water storage ; Case studies ; Crop production ; Sugarcane ; Cassava ; Ethanol ; Palm oils ; Biodiesel ; Policy ; Irrigation / Southeast Asia / Thailand / Malaysia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H044393)
(5.13 MB)
3 Simons, L. 2015. Changing the food game: market transformation strategies for sustainable agriculture. Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing. 248p.
Sustainable agriculture ; Food production ; Food industry ; Food shortages ; Market structure ; Economic aspects ; Agricultural sector ; Palm oils ; Coffee industry ; Cocoa industry ; Standards ; Institution building ; State intervention ; Non governmental organizations ; Farmers ; Population growth ; Land use ; Biodiversity ; Climate change ; Subsidies ; Poverty / aFRICA / Guatemala
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 338.1 G000 SIM Record No: H047235)
(0.47 MB)
4 German, L. A.; Bonanno, A. M.; Foster, L. C.; Cotula, L. 2020. “Inclusive business” in agriculture: evidence from the evolution of agricultural value chains. World Development, 134:105018. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105018]
Agribusiness ; Value chains ; Smallholders ; Agrarian reform ; Food security ; Business models ; Land governance ; Living standards ; Social aspects ; Inclusion ; Industrialization ; Policies ; Political aspects ; Perishable products ; Crops ; Cassava ; Coffee ; Palm oils ; Markets ; Households ; Women / Africa South of Sahara / East Africa / Southern Africa / Europe / South East Asia / Latin America / South America / Brazil / Peru
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049773)
(0.57 MB)
Sustained interest by the business community in commercial agriculture in the global South has been welcomed for its potential to bring capital into long neglected rural areas, but has also raised concerns over implications for customary land rights and the terms of integration of local land and labor into global supply chains. In global development policy and discourse, the concept of “inclusive business” has become central in efforts to resolve these tensions, with the idea that integrating smallholders and other disadvantaged actors into partnerships with agribusiness firms can generate benefits for national economies, private investors, and local livelihoods. Scholarly treatment of the topic has tended to be polarized into win/lose narratives, or points to the contingency and social differentiation of localized experiences. This review paper takes a different approach, exploring published evidence on the structural factors shaping agricultural value chains and their implications for social inclusion. We develop a typology of seven agricultural value chains, and use this to select a sample of crops in specific world regions for an analysis of how structural factors in value chain relations - from crop features, to market dynamics and policy drivers – affect social inclusion (and exclusion). Such an approach allows us to ask whether inclusive agribusiness is a realistic goal given the broader structuring of agribusiness and the global economic system. Our study finds that while the characteristics of specific crops and supply chains exert a strong influence on opportunities and constraints to inclusion, the overall trend is towards more exclusive agribusiness as governments scale back support to smallholders, more stringent standards raise barriers to entry, and firms streamline operations to enhance competitiveness. This raises questions about the feasibility of this goal under the current political economic system. Findings point to the need to re-consider the policy choices behind these trends, and how we deploy the fiscal, legislative, and gate-keeper functions of the state to shape agrarian trajectories.
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