1

Sarah Best30th April 2014Author name

DateSarah Best30th April 2014

Sarah Best, Senior Researcher (Energy and Extractive Industries), Sustainable Markets Group.

IIED, London, 30th April 2014

Growing Power: Exploring Energy Needs in Smallholder Agriculture

2

Sarah Best30th April 2014Presentation Outline

1. What is the issue and why does it matter?

2. What are the energy needs in smallholder-based food systems?

3. How have the energy and agri-food sectors approached energy needs in smallholder agriculture and related rural enterprises - differences, commonalities, progress and lessons-learned?

4. Ways forward and research gaps

The content for this presentation is drawn from the IIED ‘Growing Power’ Discussion Paper (2014) available at http://pubs.iied.org/16562IIED.html

3

Sarah Best30th April 2014What’s the issue? (a) Food for all implies more

modern energy and equipment in food system

Clarke, 2008. http://www.raeng.org.uk/events/pdf/252/lawrence_clarke.pdf

4

Sarah Best30th April 2014

(b) But is the current agriculture model affordable? E.g. Increased fossil fuels = higher farm-input & food prices

5

Sarah Best30th April 2014(c) Or sustainable? Fossil fuels contribute to

food sector emissions (though < other GHG)

FAO, 2011. ‘Energy Smart Food for People and Climate’, Issue Paper

6

Sarah Best30th April 2014(c) Or sustainable? Fossil fuels contribute to

food sector emissions (though < other GHG)

FAO, 2011. ‘Energy Smart Food for People and Climate’, Issue Paper

7

Sarah Best30th April 2014Implication?

“We need to re-think the role of energy in food systems”, FAO, 2012

8

Sarah Best30th April 2014

2. What are the energy needs in smallholder-based systems? A value chain approach (a)

9

Sarah Best30th April 2014

A wider, rural development approach to mapping needs (b)

For full version of table, see Best, S. (2014): Growing Power: Addressing Energy Needs in Smallholder Agriculture

10

Sarah Best30th April 2014Key points on energy needs

• Well-recognised energy access gaps in land preparation, irrigation, processing and storage

• But energy needs are more wide-ranging and vary across different farming systems & contexts - so solutions vary too e.g. grains vs fresh fruits to improve storage and reduce losses

• Value chain analysis can pinpoint bottlenecks and opportunities

• A rural development lens provides a wider understanding of priorities – especially relevant for electrification projects

• A gender focus is vital – if women had the same access to productive resources as men they could increase yields on their land by 20-30% (FAO, 2011)

• “Modern energy solutions” are not always the answer to a deficit e.g. due to costs, preference for draught animals

11

Sarah Best30th April 2014

3. How have energy and agri-food sectors addressed energy needs?

Energy

• Typically supply-led, though becoming more demand-driven

• Focus on ‘modern energy’, over human/animal power

• Intervention types:• Large-scale rural

electrification• Standalone off-grid (e.g.

solar irrigation)

12

Sarah Best30th April 2014

3. How have energy and agri-food sectors addressed the issue?

Energy• Traditionally very supply-led,

though becoming more demand-driven

• Focus on ‘modern energy’, over human/animal power

• Intervention types:• Large-scale rural

electrification (e.g. centralised grid, mini-grid)

• Standalone, off-grid power and equipment (e.g. solar irrigation)

Agri-food

• Focus on whole farm system, with farm as energy producer and user

• Concern for food security, production, environment – energy one input among many

• Meets energy gaps by increasing supply or reducing demand

• Interest in all power types, and intervention types include:

• Ag mechanisation (e.g. tractors, hand-powered tools)

• Sustainable agriculture (e.g. no-till, efficient resource use)

13

Sarah Best30th April 2014

Many energy & equipment solutions piloted – few reach scale

Treadle Pumps

2-wheel tractor

Rural electricity co-ops

Multi-functional platform

14

Sarah Best30th April 2014Barriers to address in designing a sustainable

delivery model for productive uses of energy • Weak demand, customers’ poverty, geography

• Top-down, supply focus of rural electrification - interest stops pre-meter and lack of focus on productive uses

• Institutions - lack complementary or joined policies across sectors (e.g. credit, extension services), role of power and politics (e.g. electricity subsidies and irrigation in India)

• Finance – users need larger-scale finance to purchase equipment

• Capacity gaps at all levels (farmers, SMEs, government) e.g. users’ business skills, low awareness of technologies

• Availability of input products, equipment and services (fuel supplies, spare parts, repair services)

• Lack of market access for sale of final products (e.g. bad roads)

15

Sarah Best30th April 2014Agri-food sector: some issues & insights

• Ag mechanisation big overlap and common lessons with energy sector, though differences too e.g. role of private sector, land titling

• Sustainability-led approaches like ‘energy-smart’ and ‘climate smart’ agriculture have different solutions to expanding access e.g. - Conservation Agriculture, Integrated Food-Energy Systems (IFES)

• Strong champions for raft of sustainable agricultural practices – but also challenges to scale-up e.g. for ‘IFES’

­ Complexity, workload

­ Competition and trade-offs

­ Access to technical support, time horizons

• Bioenergy for energy access on farms? Successful examples of self-provisioning for household energy (e.g. China) and on larger-scale farms and processors – but few examples of smallholders producing and using bioenergy for their own productive needs

16

Sarah Best30th April 2014

Conclusions• We’re not starting from scratch – there is good experience of technical

options, what has gone wrong before and possible success factors

• No ‘master plan’ that works for all crops and contexts, but common ingredients for success proposed by energy and agri-food sectors e.g.­ Involve people more, raise awareness and demand – role of farmers co-ops?

­ Map “productive use” opportunities and energy bottlenecks in value chains

­ Promote complementary support packages (credit, extension, skills)

­ Build capacity and provide business development services

­ Facilitate access to efficient and high quality end-use equipment

• Key priority to promote integration and joined-up approaches across sectors - energy, food, water, waste etc – and make complex ‘systems thinking’ more practicable.

17

Sarah Best30th April 2014

Possible quandaries and research gaps

1. Interrogating the hypothesis : Is “energy access” the right lens here? Are smallholder-based value chains the right priority?

2. How do we encourage joined-up approaches across sectors and make complex “systems thinking” (e.g. the ‘nexus’) more practical?

3. What are relative roles of the public and private sector? How can the risks for commercial investors be addressed and finance gaps overcome?

4. Power and politics: where are the political levers and blockers to change?

5. Learning from the past and the hidden: Are we reinventing the wheel with 1970’s ‘integrated rural development’? Are there promising examples of expanding access for productive uses ‘under the radar’ e.g. mini-grids?

6. Do we need to build energy literacy among farmer organisations and other actors? How?

7. How do we promote more & better measurement of energy access impacts?

18

Sarah Best30th April 2014Author name

DateSarah Best30th April 2014

Contacts: sarah.best@iied.org

Link to ‘Growing Power’ paper: http://pubs.iied.org/16562IIED.html

Rebecca Trevalyan Guest Blog: http://www.iied.org/calling-all-energy-agriculture-experts-meet-talk-collaborate

IIED energy page: http://www.iied.org/energy

And for a historical perspective see “Power and the Land” - FDR Presidential Library 1940 - A documentary showing the struggle to bring electricity to rural areas of the United States.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZchKXFpaDg

Thank you