269
Views
11
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Perspective

Can family farmers benefit from biofuel sustainability standards? Evidence from the Brazilian Social Fuel Certificate

, , &
Pages 725-736 | Published online: 09 Apr 2014
 

Abstract

Biofuels have come under increasing scrutiny due to adverse environmental and social impacts. In this context, the potential benefits of biofuel development for small family farmers is frequently overlooked. We analyze how sustainability standards and regulatory safeguards try to integrate family farmers’ concerns in complex biofuels commodity chains. The study is based on castor feedstock production in the semi-arid northeast of Brazil, where family farmers participate in the National Program on Biodiesel Production and Use through the Social Fuel Certificate mechanism. Our findings indicate that strong regulatory frameworks such as the Social Fuel Certificate are necessary to incentivize family farmer participation and guarantee their benefits. However, they may still be insufficient for sustainable rural development given existing livelihood diversification and limited impact of feedstock production on family income. Sustainable development in less-developed regions such as the semi-arid northeast will thus likely depend on broader development strategies rather than process-oriented sustainability standards.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the four anonymous reviewers for their comments that helped us to improve this article.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

S Schaffel, S Herrera and M Obermaier acknowledge financial support from the Brazilian National Council for Technological and Scientific Development. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Notes

Data taken from Citation[30].

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.