Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/96299 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2014/018
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
This paper evaluates the greenhouse gas emissions and economic impacts from producing biofuels in Tanzania. Sequentially-linked models capture natural resource constraints; emissions from land use change; economywide growth linkages; and household poverty. Results indicate that there are economic incentives to convert unused lands to sugarcane-ethanol production, but only grasslands (not forests) have a reasonable carbon payback period. There are also strong socioeconomic reasons to involve smallholders in feedstock production in order to reduce rural poverty, especially since our results indicate that biofuels have little effect on food production. Yet smallholders require more land than large-scale plantations and so face more binding natural resource and emissions constraints. Overall, environmental constraints alter the economically optimal biofuel strategy for Tanzania by limiting potential poverty reduction. Unlike previous studies, our integrated assessment suggests that a mixed farming system with greater emphasis on large-scale plantations is more appropriate for producing sugarcane-ethanol in Tanzania.
Subjects: 
biofuels
economic growth
greenhouse gas emissions
poverty
Tanzania
JEL: 
D5
O13
Q42
Q56
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9230-739-4
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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