1 water for bioenergy or and food? 5th world water forum 16-22 march 2009 istanbul, turkey vineet...

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Water for Bioenergy Water for Bioenergy oror andand Food? Food?

5th World Water Forum16-22 March 2009Istanbul, Turkey

Vineet Raswant

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IntroductionIntroduction

Why are Biofuels important for the Rural Poor?Why are Biofuels important for the Rural Poor?

Major Controversies surrounding Biofuel Development Major Controversies surrounding Biofuel Development 1. Food Security1. Food Security2. Land Availability2. Land Availability3. Water Availability3. Water Availability4. Environmental Considerations4. Environmental Considerations

Alternative Biofuel CropsAlternative Biofuel Crops

Water and Energy SecurityWater and Energy Security

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Why are Biofuels Why are Biofuels important for the important for the

Rural Poor?Rural Poor?

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Why are Biofuels important for the Rural Poor? Rural Poor?

Magnitude of the Poverty Problem(in billions)

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Total Global PopulationTot. People earning their

livelihoods from Agriculture Tot. People Directly

employed in Agriculture Tot. People Below Poverty

Line

1 out of 51 out of 5 people are engaged in Agriculture.

Yet Agriculture only contributes to 4% of Global GDP.

Not surprising that poverty is largely in the agricultural sector.

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If these people stay in agriculture, they face many problems.

Commodity prices kept declining up to 2006.

Input costs have been going up.

Agriculture is unprofitable for many.

With declining land holdings the problems of

smallholder farmers could be even worse.

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Option 1:Option 1: Improve farm-gate prices.Commodity prices

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WHEAT US HRW ($/mt)

RICE INDIC 5% ($/mt)MAIZE ($/mt)

SOYBEANS ($/mt)PALM OIL ($/mt)

Rise of OilPrices

Rise in Commodity Prices

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Option 2:Option 2: Take these people out of agriculture - as advocated by a number of economists. Can they be absorbed in other sectors in developing

countries? Perhaps we should look at the US and EU economies to

assess capacity to absorb labour.

Labour Force Unemployment Rate

US 153 million 5%

EU 222 million 9%

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There is a need to expand the size of the agricultural expand the size of the agricultural basketbasket to to employ such a large number of poor.

Biofuels have the potential to generate employment in rural areas, and trigger agricultural growth with implications for poverty reduction.

Cross-country econometric evidence indicates that GDP growth generated in agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth generated by other sectors (World Bank, 2007).

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Jatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas Belt

Palm Oil Palm Oil BeltBelt


Most poor countries areMost poor countries are well placedwell placed, in agro-ecological terms, to to become major producersbecome major producers of biomass for liquid biofuel production – or to respond in general to higher agricultural prices (SOFA 2008, FAO).

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Major Controversies Major Controversies surrounding Biofuel surrounding Biofuel

DevelopmentDevelopment

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1. Food Security1. Food Security

As experienced recently, food prices increased dramatically with maize and other food crops being introduced as feedstock, affecting many poor households.

Should this occur again, policies and procedures will need to be developed to address the needs of the food insecure households.

However, the medium-longer term implications of sustained increase in food prices can lead to higher production. (SOFA 2008, FAO)

Food production can also be increased through improved yields, and cultivating additional lands.

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2. Land Availability2. Land Availability

Land potentially available for expanded crop production is between 250-250-800 million Ha800 million Ha.(SOFA 2008, FAO)

Some of this land could be used directly for biofuel feedstock production.

Source: FAO, 2003

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3. Water Availability3. Water Availability

Globally biofuel crops account for about 1% of total crop requirement.

Its share in irrigation water use is 1.67%. Transportation currently accounts for 26% of total energy

consumption, 94% of which is supplied by petroleum, and only 0.9% by biofuels1.

Projections2 show that by 2030 the biofuel sector will account for 3 times the current area, and 5% of the irrigated water use.

1The State of Food and Agriculture 2008, FAO2 Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, IWMI

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3. Water Availability3. Water Availability

The water seems to be available: there is wastage. 70% of global freshwater withdrawals are used for

agriculture. Traditional irrigation, in most water-scarce countries, consumes only a fraction of the water it withdraws (about 50%); the rest is wasted or evaporates.

Even in biofuel production more water-intense crops are being used. Sugarcane requires more water than tropical sugarbeet and sweet sorghum.

35% of the food is wasted in Europe. Water consumption of meat-based diets is twice the

vegetarian-based diets.

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Palm Oil BeltPalm Oil Belt


Jatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas Belt




















Jatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas BeltJatropha Curcas Belt














In many areas suitable for biofuel production, there is economic water scarcity rather than physical water scarcity.

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4. Environmental Considerations4. Environmental Considerations

Biofuels have the potential to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, although some feedstocks are more effective than others.

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4. Environmental Considerations4. Environmental Considerations

Intensive cultivation of monoculture cash cropsmonoculture cash crops causes environmental externalities associated with: Pesticides; fertilizers; high water use (which lead to

water pollution and depleted resources). Perennial cropsPerennial crops on the other hand could be:

An excellent source for cellulosic biofuels; and have socio-economic and environmental benefits.

Does this make a stronger case for using perennial crops such as Jatropha and encouraging smallholderssmallholders to produce biofuels, using CA techniques?

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Alternative Biofuel Alternative Biofuel CropsCrops

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Unfortunately, partly due to a current knowledge gap, experiences with three major crops (maize, sugar, and palm oil) are dictating perceptions about biofuels.

There are biofuel crops that require less water, can be

grown in relatively unfavourable agro-climatic conditions, and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions: Jatropha. Pongamia. Cassava. Sweet sorghum –also uses lessless water water than sugar.

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There are also other biofuel crops that can be grown in saline conditions: Tropical sugarbeet –also uses lessless water water than sugar. Algae. Seashore mallow. Camelina. Arundo donax, perennial grass found in most

countries in the world. There are about 60 million ha of lands affected by

secondary salinization, that can be used for biofuel production.

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Water and Energy Water and Energy SecuritySecurity

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Water and Energy SecurityWater and Energy Security

Water and Energy Security are closely interlinked.

Policies, practices, and research efforts should focus on crops that can be sustainably grown in marginal areas, use less water, and do not compete with food crops.

IFAD is now floating a Facility to finance research and development for encouraging production of such crops to benefit the poor in remote areas.

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Thank you for Thank you for your Attentionyour Attention

1 water for bioenergy or and food? 5th world water forum 16-22 march 2009 istanbul, turkey vineet...

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rural poor

poor households

biofuels important

rural areas

large number of poor

biofuel development

food prices

energy security slide