Biofuel development in Ghana: policies of expansion and drivers of failure in the jatropha sector

Abstract

Biofuel development was mainly promoted in several parts of Africa as an energy security or rural development strategy. Jatropha was the biofuel feedstock that received the most interest across Africa from investors. However, jatropha expansion gave rise to a number of contested issues, which produced conflicts, winners, and losers. Access to land was at the heart of several of these conflicts. Though some success stories of individual jatropha projects have been documented, the overwhelming majority of these projects in Africa have either collapsed or faced significant difficulties. Understanding the reasons behind the failure of the jatropha sector is an important gap in the academic literature, while the lessons learnt from failed projects could inform future policies and practices. This literature review synthesizes the key drivers of failure of the jatropha sector in Ghana as identified in the literature, and complemented through site visits and expert interviews. It identifies a number of reasons behind the failure of individual jatropha projects such as poor business planning, institutional barriers, limited community participation, unfair compensation practices, obstacles posed by civil society and unconstructive involvement of chiefs. The findings indicate the systemic nature of these problems as they often worked synergistically to catalyse the collapse of many jatropha projects in Ghana. Re-vitalising the biofuel, and especially the jatropha, industry is virtually impossible given the current challenges. This would require a renewed political interest in Ghana particularly to deal with the deficits of the land administration institutions.

Human wellbeing outcomes of involvement in industrial crop production: Evidence from sugarcane, oil palm and jatropha sites in Ghana

“…While such investments can become a substantial source of economic investment (including foreign direct investments, FDIs), it is not clear how appropriate they are for achieving wider rural development and human wellbeing benefits. While plantations can generate rural employment in areas with little formal employment opportunities, these are confined to relatively small portions of the local communities [32,97,98]. Indeed as discussed throughout this paper, such benefits have not always materialized in reality (see “Patterns between groups in each site” and “Patterns between sites”).…”

“…Indeed as discussed throughout this paper, such benefits have not always materialized in reality (see “Patterns between groups in each site” and “Patterns between sites”). Yet, the promise of better livelihood opportunities was a major selling point to persuade local communities accept such projects [32]. Such unmet rural development expectations [15] have occasionally catalyzed conflicts between local communities and companies in different parts of the country, leading to the collapse of many industrial crop projects [32].…”

“…First, they represent the main different biofuel feedstock options in Ghana (i.e. sugarcane, jatropha, oil palm) [32]. Between them, the study projects reflect the main modes of industrial crop production, i.e.…”

“…The land concession (6,750 ha) was created through the consolidation of land parcels from the Kadue, Agentriwa, Kwaese communities. Currently, as there is no jatropha biodiesel production in Ghana [32], the produced jatropha seeds are exported to the European Union and other African markets such as Burkina Faso. Company employees mainly come from the surrounding communities including Kadue, Kobre, Kwaese, Agentriwa, and Kojo Boffour, and are paid wages on a daily and monthly basis.…”

“…Jatropha was the most promoted industrial crop in Ghana [4] before its collapse [32,33], while there are current discussions to expand oil palm and sugarcane production partly for biofuel purposes [34]. Considering that rural development has been a major driver of industrial crop expansion in SSA [2] and Ghana in particular [32] (including for biofuel purposes), it is important to understand the actual human wellbeing outcomes of involvement in the production of these crops. This can help ascertain whether industrial crop promotion is a good rural development strategy for Ghana (and possibly other SSA contexts).…”