Biofuel development in Ghana: policies of expansion and drivers of failure in the jatropha sector

RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS

卷:70

Review

Ahmed, Abubakari¹  Campion, Benjamin Betey²  Gasparatos, Alexandros³ 

[1] Univ Tokyo, Grad Program Sustainabil Sci Global Leadership I, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan

[2] Kwame Nkrumah Univ Sci & Technol, Fac Renewable Nat Resources, PMB, Kumasi, Ghana

[3] Univ Tokyo, IR3S, Bunkyo Ku, 7-3-1 Hongo, Tokyo 1138654, Japan

关键词: Biofuels;    Energy security;    Jatropha;    Rural development;    Project collapse;    Ghana;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.216

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Biofuel development was mainly promoted in several parts of Africa as an energy security or rural development strategy. Jatropha was the biofuel feedstock that received the most interest across Africa froth investors. However, jatropha expansion gave rise to a number of contested issues, which produced conflicts, winners, and losers. Access to land was at the heart of several of these conflicts. Though some success stories of individual jatropha projects have been documented, the overwhelming majority of these projects in Africa have either collapsed or faced significant difficulties. Understanding the reasons behind the failure of the jatropha sector is an important gap in the academic literature, while the lessons learnt from failed projects could inform future policies and practices. This literature review synthesizes the key drivers of failure of the jatropha sector in Ghana as identified in the literature, and complemented through site visits and expert interviews. It identifies a number of reasons behind the failure of individual jatropha projects such as poor business planning, institutional barriers, limited community participation, unfair compensation practices, obstacles posed by civil society and unconstructive involvement of chiefs. The findings indicate the systemic nature of these problems as they often worked synergistically to catalyse the collapse of many jatropha projects in Ghana. Re-vitalising the biofuel, and especially the jatropha, industry is virtually impossible given the current Challenges. This would require a renewed political interest in Ghana particularly to deal with the deficits of the land administration institutions.

【 授权许可】

Free