Local Perceptions about the Effects of Jatropha ( Jatropha curcas ) and Castor ( Ricinus communis ) Plantations on Households in Ghana and Ethiopia

Joleen A. Timko, Aklilu Amsalu, Emmanuel Acheampong and Mesfin K. Teferi
Additional contact information
Joleen A. Timko: Africa Forests Research Initiative on Conservation and Development (AFRICAD), Forestry of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T-1Z4, Canada
Aklilu Amsalu: Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa P.O. Box 150223, Ethiopia
Emmanuel Acheampong: Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University Post Office, Kumasi, Ghana
Mesfin K. Teferi: HoA-REC&N (The Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network), College of Natural Sciences, Graduate Programme Building, Addis Ababa University, 9th Floor, Room 903, Addis Ababa P.O. Box 80773, Ethiopia

Sustainability, 2014, vol. 6, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: Biofuel plantations have been hyped as a means to reinvigorate Africa’s rural areas. Yet there is still apprehension about the negative environmental and social impacts of large-scale commercial biofuel production around rising food prices, land grabbing, ecological damage, and disruption of rural livelihoods. Given the extent of Jatropha curcas production in Ghana and Ethiopia and Castor bean ( Ricinus communis ) in Ethiopia, this paper presents the results of a study that assessed the socio-economic implications of industrial Jatropha plantations on local livelihoods in Ghana, and of industrial Jatropha and Castor plantations on local livelihoods in Ethiopia. This study used primary data collected from 234 households in Ghana and 165 in Ethiopia. The cultivation of Jatropha and Castor has had several important effects on local livelihoods in the study sites, most notably decreases in household landholdings due to the arrival of industrial Jatropha or Castor plantations; and the resulting changes these plantations have caused in household socio-economic status, food security, fallow periods, and fodder availability. We consider how a lack of meaningful consultation between local people, their traditional authorities and the biofuel company managers, along with shortcomings in each country’s broader land acquisition process and poor land use information, may have contributed to these overall negative effects on local livelihoods. We conclude by suggesting several ways that emerging biofuel industries could be improved from the perspective of local people and their livelihoods.

Keywords: Jatropha; Castor bean; biofuels; Ethiopia; Ghana (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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