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Malaysian biofuels industry experience: A socio-political analysis of the commercial environment

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  • Mintz-Habib, Nazia

Abstract

This study examines the Jatropha adoption process in Sarawak, Malaysia, a land rich in biological and ethnic diversity, but highly impoverished. Attempts to alleviate poverty through oil palm plantation development resulted in internationally condemned destruction of peat lands. Sarawak subsequently turned to the inedible, low-input, exportable, biodiesel feedstock Jatropha. This case study argues that Jatropha is unlikely to make more significant socio-economic contributions than oil palm or other cash crops. The analysis suggests that companies use social capital to aggressively expand their Jatropha business among the native population in order to gain access to native customary lands, which are often underproductive peat lands. Global biofuels sector development dynamics are examined through the lenses of political economics and social, agricultural, and energy studies. The research finds that farmers' decisions to participate in the biofuels global value chain may result in negative income effects, household food security reduction, and biodiversity loss from peat land destruction. The paper concludes with a proposal for an alternative approach to evaluate both social and financial drivers in order to prevent the negative effects of biofuel-based agribusiness on human and environmental systems.

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  • Mintz-Habib, Nazia, 2013. "Malaysian biofuels industry experience: A socio-political analysis of the commercial environment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 88-100.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:56:y:2013:i:c:p:88-100
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.08.069
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    1. da Silva César, Aldara & Conejero, Marco Antonio & Barros Ribeiro, Eliene Cristina & Batalha, Mário Otávio, 2019. "Competitiveness analysis of “social soybeans” in biodiesel production in Brazil," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 1147-1157.
    2. Baines, Joseph, 2015. "Fuel, Feed and the Corporate Restructuring of the Food Regime," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 42(2), pages 295-321.
    3. Baines, Joseph, 2015. "Price and Income Dynamics in the Agri-Food System: A Disaggregate Perspective," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157992, October.
    4. Goetz, Ariane & German, Laura & Hunsberger, Carol & Schmidt, Oscar, 2017. "Do no harm? Risk perceptions in national bioenergy policies and actual mitigation performance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 776-790.
    5. Henny Romijn & Sanne Heijnen & Jouke Rom Colthoff & Boris De Jong & Janske Van Eijck, 2014. "Economic and Social Sustainability Performance of Jatropha Projects: Results from Field Surveys in Mozambique, Tanzania and Mali," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-33, September.
    6. Baines, Joseph, 2014. "The Ethanol Boom and the Restructuring of the Food Regime," Working Papers on Capital as Power 2014/03, Capital As Power - Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism.
    7. Mohd Alsaleh & A. S. Abdul-Rahim & A. O. Zubair, 2021. "Impacts of bioenergy sustainable growth on food security in EU28 region: an empirical analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(12), pages 17423-17442, December.

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