Reality or romantism? Potential of Jatropha to solve energy crisis and improve livelihoods

This paper evaluates the potential of Jatropha curcas Linnaeus (Jatropha) as an alternative source of energy for rural households. The plant is said to have potential to diversify rural incomes, reclaim unproductive lands, reduce importation of fossil fuels, and consequently accumulation of green house gases in the atmosphere. A cost benefit analysis was employed to evaluate the feasibility of producing Jatropha as a biodiesel feedstock in relation to other crops in Kwale district. An IRR of 11 percent, BCR of 0.62 and a NPV of (28267.56) showed that production of Jatropha is not feasible at the moment. However we conclude that the plant has a potential to achieve its intended purpose if there is coordination in research and development along the Jatropha value chain and if technical and financial support is accorded to actors at the production level of the chain.Crop Production/Industries,

Household Fuel Consumption Based on Multiple Fuel Use Strategies: A Case Study in Kibera Slums

AbstractRecently, it has been argued that, contrary to earlier energy ladder thinking, households in developing countries do not switch to modern energy sources but instead tend to consume a combination of fuels. This article aimed to gather a better understanding of the relative importance of fuel substitution and fuel complementation, especially among charcoal, fuel briquettes and kerosene, and the factors associated with these choices. In this paper we present results of a household survey conducted during October 2010 in Kibera slums in Nairobi, Kenya. The results revealed that widely various household characteristics influence demand for charcoal and briquettes for cooking. In addition to these factors, the household income level affects the use of kerosene for cooking. At the same time, we found the fact households tend to switch to multiple fuels strategy as their increasing in income instead of completely switching from the consumption of traditional fuels to modern energy sources

Innovative biomass cooking approaches for sub-Saharan Africa.

Eradicating poverty and achieving food and nutrition security in a sustainable environment is difficult to achieve without adequate access to affordable cooking fuel. It is therefore important to understand the common sources of cooking energy used by people in rural areas and the challenges faced in making fuel sources economically viable, socially acceptable and ecologically sustainable. In the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region, more than 90% of the population relies on firewood and charcoal (wood fuel, collectively) as a primary source of domestic energy. Wood fuel sustainability is challenged by unsustainable harvesting and inefficient methods of converting wood into energy. The use of inefficient cook stoves contributes to wood wastage and smoke exposure associated with severe illnesses. Households often abandon traditional nutritious diets that take a long time to cook, reduce the number of meals, and spend income on fuel at the expense of food costs. Innovations exist that have the potential to provide affordable and cleaner tree-based cooking fuel. Pruning trees on the farm as a fuel source brings firewood closer to women, lightens their workload, saves time and reduces income spent on cooking fuel. Using briquettes or gas cook stoves can reduce health risks associated with food preparation and reduce income spent on cooking fuel due to increased fuel efficiency. The development of these innovations indicates the need for a multi-disciplinary approach to increase awareness of the benefits of cooking fuel innovations, encourage further research on product quality enhancement and standardization, to understand cultural and behavioral issues influencing adoption, and integrate innovations into bioenergy policy frameworks

The environmental, socioeconomic, and health impacts of woodfuel value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic map

Background: In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the production and use of woodfuel remains an important socio-economic activity with more than 70% of the population relying on woodfuel as their primary household energy source. Despite their socio-economic significance, woodfuel value chains are often viewed negatively due to their association with detrimental health and environmental impacts. However, the lack of sound evidence and limited understanding of the role of contextual factors in influencing the various impacts of woodfuel value chains have prevented the formulation of properly guided policy interventions. Thus the objective of this systematic map is to provide a comprehensive review of the environmental, socio-economic, and health impacts of woodfuel value chains across SSA. Methods: The search strategy for this review map was defined in a peer-reviewed protocol and refined by iterative testing. Search strings were composed of population, intervention, and location terms and combined using Boolean operators. The bibliographic databases Web of Science, Scopus, and CAB Abstracts were used as the main sources of literature for this review, and a total of 4728 results were initially retrieved. Following title and abstract screening, 659 entered full text screening. Critical appraisal of 219 articles led to the exclusion of studies that did not set meet quality criteria for this map, resulting in a final total of 131 articles for inclusion in data extraction and analysis. Results: From the 131 included articles, 152 individual studies were identified during data extraction. Studies came from 26 of the 49 Sub Saharan African countries, with a particular preponderance of articles published in the last 10 years. Critical appraisal found significant weaknesses in the experimental design of woodfuel value chain studies with the exception of health impact studies, which frequently utilized controls or other relevant comparators. Findings suggest that woodfuel value chains have environmental, socioeconomic and health consequences with the frequent presence of trade-offs. The reporting of contextual factors in the studies challenge the widespread perception of deforestation as being directly caused by bush fires, overgrazing and woodcutting. Instead, agricultural expansion (which often includes forest clearing) and pre-existing biophysical factors were the most frequently cited factors in shaping environmental outcomes. Conclusions: This systematic map suggests that there are environmental, socioeconomic and health consequences associated with woodfuel value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the literature also shows a weak and geographically limited evidence base to justify the above claims. We argue that policy formulation processes targeting woodfuels in SSA require more solid, coherent and broad body of knowledge, especially for such a vital sector in rural economies. Thus, there is an urgent need to design and undertake research using robust methodologies, at appropriate scales that further takes into account the interrelationships between environmental and socio-economic outcomes in order to generate substantial and reliable evidence for informed policy formulation. (Résumé d'auteur

Livelihood Diversification, De-agrarianisation and Social Differentiation : Case Studies on Rural Livelihoods from South Africa and Kenya

報告番号: 乙16978 ; 学位授与年月日: 2009-06-25 ; 学位の種別: 課程博士 ; 学位の種類: 博士(経済学) ; 学位記番号: 第16978号 ; 研究科・専攻: 経済学研究科現代経済専

Crop-livestock diversification patterns in relation to income and manure use: a case study from a Rift Valley community, Kenya

Most rural households in the semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa practise mixed crop-livestock farming. With population growth and the subsequent scarcity of land available for extensive farming, the only option available for these households is to intensify production. For this to be successful, one must understand the divergent patterns of intensification and their relation to the economic needs of households. In a Rift Valley community in Kenya, inter-household heterogeneities in adopting distinctive combinations of particular crop and livestock productions (they are defined as ‘crop livestock diversification’ or CLD patterns) were observed. Principal component analysis was used to identify the dominant CLD patterns which reflect complementarities between crop and livestock types. This was followed by an assessment of the association between the CLD patterns and the economic returns and manure use of the households. Among the five dominant CLD patterns identified, households that kept improved cattle and grew fruits were found to earn higher incomes and apply more organic manure. Conversely, households that grew staple crops with or without indigenous animals were found to apply less manure. Education, participation in farmers’ groups, access to the training centre, and family size were key factors affecting the adoption of CLD patterns

生業多様化・脱農業化・社会分化 : 南アフリカ・ケニア農村からの事例研究

University of Tokyo (東京大学