Global Investment Failures and Transformations: A Review of Hyped Jatropha Spaces

Richmond Antwi-Bediako, Kei Otsuki, Annelies Zoomers and Aklilu Amsalu
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Richmond Antwi-Bediako: International Development Studies, Department Human Geography and Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Vening Meinesz building 6.30, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands
Kei Otsuki: International Development Studies, Department Human Geography and Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Vening Meinesz building 6.12, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands
Annelies Zoomers: International Development Studies, Department Human Geography and Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Vening Meinesz building 6.12, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands
Aklilu Amsalu: Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa P.O. Box 150223, Ethiopia

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-23

Abstract: There was a heightened global interest in large-scale Jatropha cultivation for the past few decades, and this incited investment toward the crop in many developing countries. Many saw Jatropha as a green fuel that could possibly be an alternative to fossil fuel, which has adverse implications to deal with the impacts of climate change. However, Jatropha investments failed to meet global expectations, leading to unexpected social, environmental, and economic transformations in the investment spaces. This paper reviews and synthesizes the transformations and complexities in failed Jatropha spaces in six previous major Jatropha investment destinations across the world—Mexico, India, China, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Ghana—by employing qualitative data analysis. The findings generally show that, in all of the countries studied, promoters of Jatropha investments, including the central government and private investors, subscribed to a “wait-and-see” approach with positive expectations. The review revealed that the intended goal of establishing global Jatropha investments to serve as an alternative source of fuel failed because of the unexpected complexities of the hype, which dwelled much on the deferment option of the “wait-and-see” approach for global Jatropha investments. Failure of the investments along with unmet expectations led to land-use changes from Jatropha to the cultivation of other crops (often food crops) or total land abandonment. Although we are not totally pessimistic about the economic and production viability of Jatropha as a biofuel feedstock, we emphasize the importance of paying considerable attention to other feedstocks that might have a better future as alternatives to fossil-based energy for the deployment of sustainable bioenergy. Furthermore, our findings provide meaningful justification for policy- and decision-makers in the development space to tacitly reflect and appraise new investment initiatives or interventions before endorsement.

Keywords: biofuel; Jatropha; investment; transformation; government; corporate; hype; bust (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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