Tackling biomass scarcity—from vicious to virtuous cycles in sub-Saharan Africa

Hoff, Holger; Flores-López, F.; Goetz, Ariane; Matuschke, Ira

doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2015.07.011

Cited by 18 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In SSA in general and Ethiopia in particular, energy transition and agricultural transformation are highly interdependent and are also partly competitive (Karlberg et al, 2015). On the one hand, the transformation of agricultural sector relies heavily on energy transition from primitive technologies using mostly animate energy (animal and human labor) toward a mechanized system that relies more on fuel-consuming machines.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Renewable energy adoption and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia

Lokonon,

Faye,

Mirzabaev

2023

Natural Resources Forum

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The introduction of new policies promoting decentralized energy technologies is likely to have profound effects across all the nexus activities, including agricultural production, input use, and labor allocations. Thus, this paper analyzes the potential synergies and trade‐offs created by the adoption of renewable energy technologies along the water–energy–food security nexus in Ethiopia. We use a mathematical programming‐based household model to compare the impacts of fossil‐based and renewable energy use on rural households’ livelihoods. Our findings show that only a 10% subsidy to the price of biogas digester considerably changes the energy mix of all types of households and increases the use of decentralized modern energy sources. Household crop production patterns are not changed substantially as a consequence of the biogas subsidy, despite the competition over resources between crop and energy production. Nonetheless, the subsidy policy can lead to family labor reallocation from collecting fuelwood to agricultural activities. Moreover, the biogas subsidy can improve household incomes. Specifically, the findings indicate that 10% biogas subsidy can lead to 0.93% and 3.44% increases in the net incomes of wealthier and poorer households, respectively, compared to the business‐as‐usual scenario, that is, also has a pro‐poor dimension. Sensitivity analyses are carried out and it appears among others that more subsidy of the price of biogas digester leads to an increase in the net income of the two household types. Overall, the benefits generated by the biogas subsidy in terms of increases in net household incomes outweigh the total costs of the subsidy program. The findings indicate the importance of the subsidy policy to improve rural households’ welfare.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Renewable energy adoption and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia

Lokonon,

Faye,

Mirzabaev

2023

Natural Resources Forum

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“…In addition, there is not enough arable land to be fallowed for soil nutrient restoration in Kenya with the increasing population and associated demands for land. The strategy toward growing biomass scarcity has led to a vicious cycle of low crop production in Kenya [49] (Fig. 6(a)).…”

Section: Development Of a Self-reinforcing Cycle Between Soil Fertility And Plant Growth With Increases In Grain Yield Of 1-5 T$ha -1mentioning

confidence: 99%

A potential solution for food security in Kenya: implications of the Quzhou model in China

Jiao

Shen

Zhang

2020

Front. Agr. Sci. Eng.

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Poor soil fertility due to low nutrient inputs is a major factor limiting grain production in Kenya. Increasing soil fertility for crop productivity in China has implications for food security in Kenya. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the historical patterns of grain production, nutrient inputs, soil fertility and policies in Quzhou, a typical agricultural county on the North China Plain, and to compare grain production in Quzhou County and Kenya to identify a potential approach for increasing grain production in Kenya. Grain yields in Quzhou increased from 1 to 3 t$ha -1 between 1961 and 1987 by increasing manure application accompanied by small amounts of chemical fertilizer after soil desalinization. There was a further increase from 3 to 5 t$ha -1 up to 1996 which can be mainly attributed to chemical fertilizer use and policy support. Hence, a beneficial cycle between soil fertility and plant growth in Quzhou grain production was developed and strengthened. In contrast, there was only a slight increase in grain yields in Kenya over this period, resulting from low soil fertility with limited external nutrient inputs, a consequence of poor socioeconomic development. It is suggested that grain yields in Kenya would likely be boosted by the development of a selfreinforcing cycling between soil fertility and plant growth with manure and chemical fertilizer use if supported by policy and socioeconomic development.

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“…Currently, about 13% of the world's land is used for the production of biofuels and textiles [9]. Hence, strategies for more efficient management and use of biomass, especially with regard to waste biomass, can soften this competition for soil resources, thus avoiding increasing pressures on natural resources and ecosystems [10][11][12]. The reuse of the waste biomass from the food-processing sector helps not only with the energy crisis; it also allows for solving the problems with waste landfilling and the emissions of greenhouse gases, and improving the environment through the ecological balance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Torrefaction Temperature and Climatic Chamber Operation Time on Hydrophobic Properties of Agri-Food Biomass Investigated Using the EMC Method

et al. 2021

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Due to the tendency for excessive moisture adsorption by raw, unprocessed biomass, various methods of biomass valorization are in use, allowing for the improvement of physical–chemical biomass properties, including hydrophobicity. One of the methods is torrefaction, which changes the hydrophilic properties of the biomass to hydrophobic. Therefore, in this study, the influence of the torrefaction temperature and the exposure time to moisture adsorption conditions on the hydrophobic properties of waste biomass from the agri-food industry (lemon peel, mandarin peel, grapefruit peel, and butternut-squash peel) were analyzed. The torrefaction was carried out at the following temperatures: 200, 220, 240, 260, 280, 300, and 320 °C. The hydrophobic properties were determined by using the EMC (Equilibrium Moisture Content) method, conducting an experiment in the climatic chamber at atmospheric pressure, a temperature of 25 °C, and relative humidity of 80%. The total residence time of the material in the climate chamber was 24 h. It was shown that the torrefaction process significantly improves the hydrophobic properties of waste biomass. Concerning dried raw (unprocessed) material, the EMC (24 h) coefficient was 0.202 ± 0.004 for lemon peels, 0.223 ± 0.001 for grapefruit peels, 0.237 ± 0.004 for mandarin peels, and 0.232 ± 0.004 for butternut squash, respectively. After the torrefaction process, the EMC value decreased by 24.14–56.96% in relation to the dried raw material, depending on the type of organic waste. However, no correlation between the improvement of hydrophobic properties and increasing the torrefaction temperature was observed. The lowest values of the EMC coefficient were determined for the temperatures of 260 °C (for lemon peel, EMC = 0.108 ± 0.001; for mandarin peel, EMC = 0.102 ± 0.001), 240 °C (for butternut-squash peel, EMC = 0.176 ± 0.002), and 220 °C (for grapefruit peel, EMC = 0.114 ± 0.008). The experiment also showed a significant logarithmic trend in the dependence of the EMC coefficient on the operating time of the climatic chamber. It suggests that there is a limit of water adsorption by the material and that a further increase of the exposure time does not change this balance.

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Tackling biomass scarcity—from vicious to virtuous cycles in sub-Saharan Africa

Cited by 18 publications

References 26 publications

Renewable energy adoption and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia

Renewable energy adoption and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia

A potential solution for food security in Kenya: implications of the Quzhou model in China

Influence of Torrefaction Temperature and Climatic Chamber Operation Time on Hydrophobic Properties of Agri-Food Biomass Investigated Using the EMC Method

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