USE OF CONSERVATION RESERVE PROGRAM LAND FOR BIOREFINERY FEEDSTOCK PRODUCTION

Legislation passed in 2002 enables managed harvesting and grazing of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land, including harvesting of biomass. The objective of the research is to determine the cost to acquire, harvest, store, and deliver a steady flow of biomass from CRP grasslands to a biorefinery.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Environmental Consequences of Ethanol from Corn Grain, Ethanol from Lignocellulosic Biomass, and Conventional Gasoline

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 includes a provision designed to double the production and use of ethanol in fuels by 2012, and that beginning in 2013, a minimum of 250 million gallons per year of ethanol be produced from lignocellulosic sources such as corn stover, wheat straw, and switchgrass. This study was conducted to determine the environmental and health consequences of using ethanol as an additive to gasoline. Comparisons are made among conventional gasoline (CG), a blend of 10 percent corn-ethanol and 90 percent CG (E10-corn), and a blend of 10 percent ethanol produced from lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) and 90 CG (E10-LCB).Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Farm Household Production Efficiency in Southern Malawi: An Efficiency Decomposition Approach

The present study was set out to estimate production efficiency of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L) farmers in the southern region of Malawi’s through efficiency decomposition. A random sample of 72 small-scale farmers was drawn from Balaka district. The findings revealed that farmers in Balaka district have opportunity for productivity gains and cost saving. Mean technical, economic and allocated efficiency were found to be 0.70, 0.57 and 0.82, respectively. Factors like education and credit access augment technical efficiency while credit access, farmer group membership and gender (being male) augment economic and allocative efficiency. Policy thrust like linking small scale farmers to micro-finance institutions for credit access, intensifying family planning programs to reduce family sizes, organizing small scale farmers into groups (cooperatives) and  integrating women into training and extension programs would increase production efficiency of small-scale tomato farming in southern Malawi. Keywords: Decomposition, Malawi, production efficiency, production frontier, tomat

Cost to deliver lignocellulosic biomass to a biorefinery

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to determine the cost to deliver a continuous flow of lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) to a biorefinery that can process 1,000, 2,000 or 4,000 tons of biomass per day. The study also sought to determine how the method of modeling harvest and procurement cost of biomass changes the cost to deliver a steady flow of biomass to a biorefinery. Lignocellulosic biomass includes agricultural residues (e.g. corn stover and wheat straw), herbaceous crops (e.g. alfalfa, switchgrass) and improved pastures (old world bluestem, tall fescue and bermuda grass). A mixed integer mathematical programming model was developed to determine the optimal size and location of a biorefinery, the quantity and types of biomass to be used, sources of biomass feedstock, monthly harvest and storage quantities, number of harvest machines to be used, and the cost to deliver a steady flow of biomass to a biorefinery, among other variables of interest. The base model has more than 403,000 activities in 48,400 equations.Findings and Conclusions: Based on this study an LCB biorefinery business is expected to develop in concert with well coordinated biomass feedstock harvest units. The harvest units would be managed either by the biorefinery industry itself or by a private company. A total of 26 harvest units at an average investment of $15.34 million would be required to harvest biomass feedstock for a large plant (i.e. plant with capacity to process 4,000 dry tons of biomass per day). These harvest units would result in a per ton harvest cost of$10.72. The biomass industry may use a variety of biomass feedstock species that mature at different periods during the year. In the model total of seven biomass feedstock types were used including wheat straw, corn stover, old world bluestem, bermuda grass, native tall grass, native short grass, and mixed native grass. A variety of biomass feedstock types would result in a harvest season of nine months. This would result in a lower cost to deliver LCB to a biorefinery than a shorter harvest season. Since the plant would operate throughout the year a short harvest season would result in large storage reserves for long periods leading to high storage costs. For the assumptions used it was determined that feedstock would be hauled from an average radius of 106 miles to the biorefinery

Contribution of Non-Timber Forest Products to Rural Household Income in Zambia

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) play an important role in supporting rural livelihoods and food security in Zambia. NTFP-dependent households are poorer, have younger household heads with lower levels of education, and are located closer to district towns than other rural households are. NTFPs are a particularly important source of income in Luapula, Northwestern and Western provinces. • Income from woodfuel represented the greatest share of income for households that participated in NTFPs, and it was the most commonly reported business activity, with 68% of NTFP households reporting income from charcoal and firewood. NTFPs contribute an average of 32% to total household income among participants, with the poorest being more dependent on these sources. • Given the widespread demand for woodfuel and other forest products, it is likely that rural households will continue to engage in the extraction and trade of NTFPs as a business activity. However, charcoal production, if left unchecked, could compromise the integrity of forests and adversely affect the availability of other NTFPs. In order to reduce households’ reliance on charcoal/firewood as an income source, outreach efforts could promote other NTFPs such as wild honey, ants, and mushrooms as business activities. Mushrooms, ants, and caterpillars may particularly be important activities for female-headed households, as more female-headed households derived income from these sources.NON-TIMBER FOREST, ZAMBIA, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics,

Impact of Small-Scale Irrigation on Poverty in Rural Malawi

The aftermath of the Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) and droughts in the 1990s which culminated into the 2002 food crisis renewed government and donor interest to reinvest in irrigation agriculture in Malawi. As a result, a number of investments were instituted to spur irrigation agriculture between 2006 and 2014. However, there is little evidence from Malawi on the national scale on whether irrigated farming translates into poverty reduction. This study, therefore, sought to establish the impact of small-scale irrigation on poverty reduction in rural Malawi by examining poverty, crop productivity, crop income, and food security configurations of irrigation impacts. Using the Third Integrated Household Survey Data (IHS3) and Propensity Score Matching, the study found positive and statistically significant impacts of irrigated agriculture on crop productivity, food security and poverty reduction and a statistically insignificant impact on crop income. However, the reduction in poverty is not huge even though it is statistically significant. There is, therefore, need for the government to establish large scale irrigation schemes along the lake and big rivers where water is abundantly available. This should be coupled with the creation of infrastructure in transport and communication to aid distribution and marketing of the crops to be produced. Keywords: Irrigation, poverty, crop productivity, crop income, food security, propensity score matching

What drives Adoption of Biofuel (Jatropha Curcas) Production in Central Eastern Malawi?

There is increased interest in production of Jatropha Curcas as a biodiesel feedstock by both local and international companies. The increased interest is due to problems associated with major energy sources such as diesel and petro and their availability. This study aims at providing an understanding of the socioeconomic factors that influence farmers’ adoption of Jatropha Curcas production as a biofuel technology. The study uses data from 70 Jatropha Curcas farmers in Salima district in Malawi. The results indicated that positive and significant determinants of adoption of Jatropha Curcas production by small scale farmers are gender of the household head, plot size and education level of the household head. Based on extent of adoption, the results show that plot size and education level of the household head are the only significant factors that explain the extent of adoption while marriage status negatively influenced extentof adoption. The study recommends that if Malawi government would like to promote the cultivation of Jatropha crop on commercial basis, consideration for land allocated to Jatropha should be a priority. Promotion may be suitable for large commercial farmers who have lots of land. Keywords: Jatropha Curcas production, adoption, Malaw

Smart subsidies for sustainable soils: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in southern Malawi

Conventional agricultural practices – especially conventional tillage – are a major driver of soil erosion globally. While soil may not frequently considered a vulnerable natural resource, the erosion and degradation of soils poses a serious threat to food production and the production of numerous otherin situ andex situ ecosystem services. This study provides some of the first evidence on the effectiveness of a payments for ecosystem services (PES) program to encourage the adoption of soil conservation practices, specifically conservation agriculture (CA). Through minimized soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and diversified crop mix, CA is believed to enhance soil fertility and rehabilitate soil structure, with the resulting preservation of ecosystem service flows. By providing calibrated financial incentives, we demonstrate that it is possible to substantially increase the extent and intensity of CA adoption. What is more, we show that a novel incentive mechanisms that leverages social networks for the consolidation of fragmented land may be more effective at bringing more land under conservation objectives, even if some of the additional land does not officially fall under the purview of the PES program. We also demonstrate that some of the supposed weaknesses hindering the adoption of CA – lower yields in the short-run and higher expenditures on weed control – were not necessarily obstacles in our study area, perhaps suggesting that the provision of subsidies need not continue into perpetuity, but may only be needed to overcome short-term transition costs.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069621001108Published versio

LIGNOCELLULOSIC BIOMASS HARVEST AND DELIVERY COST.

The logistics of providing an orderly flow of lignocellulosic feedstock to a biorefinery have not been addressed by most biorefinery feasibility studies. A mixed integer mathematical programming model is developed that includes integer decision variables enabling investment in harvest machines that provide monthly harvest capacity based upon expected harvest days