Box 3.1 (continued)
KDDP was instrumental in providing irrigation and knowledge for sugarcane production to thousands of smallholders (Terry and Ogg 2017). Furthermore, it generated local employment in the community plantations for
households that did not join sugarcane production (Mudombi et al. 2018).
Overall, sugarcane production has become a major avenue to boost rural
development and livelihood diversification (Terry and Ogg 2017), succeeding
to reduce poverty among smallholders (Mudombi et al. 2018), despite the
extensive conversion of dryland agriculture and degraded ecosystems
(Romeu-Dalmau et al. 2018). In this respect, many of the different mechanisms of food security impacts intersect in the broader area, and especially A1
“Food crop area”; A3 “Livestock grazing area”; A5 “Farming inputs”; A6
“Technology”; B1 “Infrastructure”; B2 “Market linkages” and B4 “Income
generation.”
The BioEnergy Resources Ltd. (BERL) was a private company that promoted jatropha production in Malawi. In particular, BERL incentivized
smallholder-based jatropha production in hedges along the boundaries of
small family farms, buying in return the produced jatropha. This model
assumes that farm boundaries are underutilized (von Maltitz et al. 2014,
2016), and that planting jatropha in these hedges would have minimal tradeoffs with food crop production. However, the income generated from jatropha
production was relatively low, having little effect on poverty alleviation
(Mudombi et al. 2018). Even though BERL targeted around 100,000 farmers
across Malawi, only a fraction of these farmers took up and maintained
jatropha production. In this respect only a few of the different mechanisms
of food security impacts intersect in the broader area, and especially A4
“Labour/capital diversion”; B2 “Market linkages” and B4 “Income
generation.”
Large industrial crop plantations produce industrial crops in large blocks
that can extend from a few tens of hectares to several thousand hectares
depending on the crop and the area (e.g. Hall et al. 2017; Smalley 2013).
Industrial crop production usually follows intensive monocultural practices
and requires extensive land consolidation processes, often displacing rural
communities and converting/degrading natural ecosystems (Hall et al. 2017).
However, large plantations often generate employment and income, and
develop infrastructure (e.g. roads) in poor rural areas that lack such options
(Smalley 2013). Several studies have found that plantation employment has
very different characteristics depending on the context, ranging from insecure,
precarious and lowly paid (Ahmed et al. 2019a), to highly beneficial and
appreciated by some local communities (Hall et al. 2017). In any cases
plantation employment can divert substantial amount of labour from other
local activities (e.g. food crop production), often under questionable working
practices and wages. Plantation owners and investors can be private companies, state agencies, parastatal bodies or joint partnerships.
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M. P. Jarzebski et al.
KDDP was instrumental in providing irrigation and knowledge for sugarcane production to thousands of smallholders (Terry and Ogg 2017). Furthermore, it generated local employment in the community plantations for
households that did not join sugarcane production (Mudombi et al. 2018).
Overall, sugarcane production has become a major avenue to boost rural
development and livelihood diversification (Terry and Ogg 2017), succeeding
to reduce poverty among smallholders (Mudombi et al. 2018), despite the
extensive conversion of dryland agriculture and degraded ecosystems
(Romeu-Dalmau et al. 2018). In this respect, many of the different mechanisms of food security impacts intersect in the broader area, and especially A1
“Food crop area”; A3 “Livestock grazing area”; A5 “Farming inputs”; A6
“Technology”; B1 “Infrastructure”; B2 “Market linkages” and B4 “Income
generation.”
The BioEnergy Resources Ltd. (BERL) was a private company that promoted jatropha production in Malawi. In particular, BERL incentivized
smallholder-based jatropha production in hedges along the boundaries of
small family farms, buying in return the produced jatropha. This model
assumes that farm boundaries are underutilized (von Maltitz et al. 2014,
2016), and that planting jatropha in these hedges would have minimal tradeoffs with food crop production. However, the income generated from jatropha
production was relatively low, having little effect on poverty alleviation
(Mudombi et al. 2018). Even though BERL targeted around 100,000 farmers
across Malawi, only a fraction of these farmers took up and maintained
jatropha production. In this respect only a few of the different mechanisms
of food security impacts intersect in the broader area, and especially A4
“Labour/capital diversion”; B2 “Market linkages” and B4 “Income
generation.”
Large industrial crop plantations produce industrial crops in large blocks
that can extend from a few tens of hectares to several thousand hectares
depending on the crop and the area (e.g. Hall et al. 2017; Smalley 2013).
Industrial crop production usually follows intensive monocultural practices
and requires extensive land consolidation processes, often displacing rural
communities and converting/degrading natural ecosystems (Hall et al. 2017).
However, large plantations often generate employment and income, and
develop infrastructure (e.g. roads) in poor rural areas that lack such options
(Smalley 2013). Several studies have found that plantation employment has
very different characteristics depending on the context, ranging from insecure,
precarious and lowly paid (Ahmed et al. 2019a), to highly beneficial and
appreciated by some local communities (Hall et al. 2017). In any cases
plantation employment can divert substantial amount of labour from other
local activities (e.g. food crop production), often under questionable working
practices and wages. Plantation owners and investors can be private companies, state agencies, parastatal bodies or joint partnerships.
94
M. P. Jarzebski et al.