Discovering new oil fields, Small-scale local biofuel production and use in rural Honduras

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Discovering new oil fields, Small-scale local biofuel production and use in rural Honduras

The development of the fossil oil sector in the 20th century made available massive volumes of energy at low prices. The parts of the world that were technologically equipped to take advantage of this cheap energy have experienced an unprecedented increase in productivity and living standards. Oil producing countries have seen even stronger wealth increases.

But the age of cheap oil is nearing its end. Many economists predict oil prices to increase drastically in the next decade, due to a stagnating production, higher production costs of the remaining oil fields and an ever-growing oil demand, especially from China1.
The upcoming era of high energy prices may give rise to the largest redistribution of wealth in the history of mankind. Especially tropical countries with large areas of un(der)used arable land available can improve their competitiveness as a result of higher energy prices. The question if small farmers can benefit significantly from this new situation, has been central in the Gota verde project in Honduras.

The Gota Verde initiative is in several aspects different from many of the other biofuel initiatives that have risen during the past years:  Its products cannot be found in the ports of Rotterdam and Miami, but in the irrigation pumps, tractors, agro-industrial equipment and vehicles used locally in Yoro, Honduras.  Its feedstock does not come from huge monoculture plantations, but from hundreds of small plantations and living fences, managed by small and medium-sized farmers and their families.  The owners of the processing enterprise are not anonymous overseas shareholders, but the very local farmers that cultivate their lands. The objective of the Gota Verde project is to demonstrate that biofuel production on a small scale for local use is an economically and technically feasible activity. The project has built an important local capacity, that is unique in 1 Demand in Asia is rising at a rate of 2 million barrels a day. Source: http://www.jodidata.org/. 5 the Central American region, in the cultivation of oil-yielding crops, small-scale production of biofuel and its local use.

The Gota Verde project has been implemented by a consortium of six European and two Honduran organizations, coordinated by the Social Trade Organisation (STRO, The Netherlands). The other members of the consortium were: AGERATEC (Sweden), Dajolka (Denmark), FACT Foundation (The Netherlands), Humanistic Institute for Development Cooperation (HIVOS, The Netherlands), Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP, United Kingdom), FHIA (Honduras) and FUNDER (Honduras).

This report gives an overview of the main results, lessons learnt and conclusions of the three year project (2007-2009). More detailed information and a list of downloadable documents can be found on the project’s website: http://www.gotaverde.org, both in Spanish and English.

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