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How an Innovative Sugarcane Biofuel System can Prevent a Clash between Food and Energy in Brazil

Nilson de Paula

Postgraduate Programme in Public Policy, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil

E-mail Address: nilson@ufpr.br

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Wellington Pereira

Economics Department, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil

E-mail Address: wdspereira@yahoo.com.br

Corresponding author.

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, and

Mary Jane Parmentier

School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Arizona State University, USA

E-mail Address: mj.parmentier@asu.edu

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S1464333219500054Cited by:3 (Source: Crossref)

This article is part of the issue:

Special Issue — Re-Thinking Sustainability Models and Practices: Challenges for the New and Old World; Guest Editors: Marcelo Montaño, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tomás B. Ramos, NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal and Davide Geneletti, University of Trento, Italy

Abstract

Food commodities have been used worldwide for both human consumption and energy, amid concerns of environmental degradation and damaging effects on local food systems. Presently, strategies of rural development have encompassed the use of green resources to produce biofuels and an agenda of food security. We argue that by the strengthening of a Sectorial System of Production and Innovation involving farming activity, industrial transformation and institutional support, production for food and for energy can be balanced. Our discussion contributes to the resolution of the potential conflict between agro-energy and food production and the role of public policies in stimulating second-generation ethanol based on remaining biomass. Based on the current literature and empirical evidences, the prospects for sugarcane ethanol in Brazil are examined, bearing in mind the development of a system able to produce second-generation ethanol, as a strategy able to mitigate negative effects on food security.

Keywords:

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