BIOVALE PROJECT:

A BIODIESEL BUSINESS
AS AN AGENT OF SOCIAL INCLUSION IN BRAZIL

www.biovale.teiaslive.net
biovaleenergia@gmail.com
 goals
9 To set up a pool of highly professional entities to
organize the bio-diesel production chain based on Jatropha
curcas feedstock, elaborating turn-key projects from soil to
oil.
9 promoting sustained development and poverty
alleviation, creating opportunities and a new model for
the intensive and extensive use of the energy biomass
potential of Brazil.
9 Main focus: most vulnerable region of Brazil: Semi-arid,
particularly, Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys, in the
Staste of Minas Gerais.

Final target: to set up socially responsible and state-of-art biodiesel

industries in one of the most vulnerable regions in Brazil.
 vision
“Take joint actions and improve efforts to work together at
all levels to improve access to reliable and affordable energy
services for sustainable development sufficient to facilitate
the achievement of the MDGs, including the Goal of halving
the proportion of people in poverty by 2015, and as a means
to generate other important services that mitigate poverty,
bearing in mind that

access to energy facilitates the eradication of poverty”

( Summit on Sustainable Development in the

Johannesburg Plan of Implementation )
“ We folks have to get out of the dry hinterland! But one only gets out
of the dry hinterland is taking it over from inside...” (Guimarães Rosa)
 empowering the poor groups
If the conditions could be created for these small
producers to become more effective in production and
trade, poor groups could contribute significantly to
achieving a higher and more sustainable pace of
development, promoting not only economic growth but
social cohesion.

But such conditions will not come about easily or quickly.

The legacy of history and the long marginalization of poor
groups in terms of the distribution of land and other
assets, in terms of institutions and of centuries of
inequity in access to education, nutrition and health,
create too great an obstacle.

These obstacles must be addressed and overcome if the

challenging targets on poverty reduction are to be
achieved. Acting directly on poverty means addressing
their constraints.
 empowering the poor groups
Sustained growth can be achieved only by creating conditions in which
poor groups can increase their productivity and output.

Empowering these poor groups is not a diversion from promoting

growth. On the contrary, it is an effective, and perhaps the only, way
of achieving sustainable growth.

But empowerment will serve little purpose if the material means for
increasing production and incomes are not available to the poor.

Enhancing their skills and building the human capital of the poor will
have a major impact on both their economic productivity and their
human dignity.

By improving the productivity and sustainable management of land

and water, technological advances offer the potential to address many
of the obstacles that the lack of assets imposes on the poor.

Access to extension services, market and technology must be relevant

to the conditions of the poor and they must have access to it.
 Corporate social responsibility
The Sell Side of important financial markets is recognizing the
materiality of corporate social responsibility.

Social and environmental issues can materially affect stock prices,

particularly over the long-term and sometimes even in the short-
term.

“Business is part of society, not outside it. When we talk about

corporate social responsibility, we don’t see it as something
business does to society, but as something fundamental to
everything we do…not just philanthropy or community investment,
but the impact of our operations and products as well as the
interaction we have with the societies we serve. CSR is not a soft
issue or a nice to do activity on the fringe of business. It is central
to doing business. It is challenging to manage and it is a hard
edged business issue.” (expressed by the giant Unilever at the
London business School)

We encourage organizations and investors to scrutinize our

project/corporation as an attractive option to their socially
responsible investments.
 our challange
In modern economies, large scale poverty imposes an enormous
economic loss, wasting the talents and energies of hundreds of
millions of people , diverted from socially productive activities that
could create wealth for society to the struggle for mere survival.

The partnerships
should be at the
global level, at the
country level with
national
stakeholders and
external partners
acting together,
the private sector
and civil-society But the fundamental partnership, and
institutions ultimately the only one that counts, is with the
collaborating to
create conditions poor themselves. They have the talents, the
that emancipate skills and the knowledge of their own
poor groups. environment.
 Biofuels: A New Future for Rural Communities

One of the main benefits of biofuels is their potential to increase

farm incomes and strengthen rural economies. The World Bank
reports that biofuel industries require about 100 times more workers
per unit of energy produced than the fossil fuel industry.

In 2004, the Brazilian sugarcane sector was responsible for 1 million

jobs (direct)/4 million (indirect) corresponding to the production of
350 million tonnes of cane (UNICA, 2003 and Goldemberg, 2003).

The dispersed nature of agriculture makes it unlikely that biofuel

production will become as centralized as the oil industry.

In the focused region of the project (Jequitinhonha & Mucuri Valleys)

the access to modern forms of energy is limited or absent. An
orchastrated pool of competences involved in the biodiesel
production chain can help provide income and clean, accessible
energy that is vital for rural development and poverty alleviation.
 energy & prosperity

Most poor households in developing

countries lack access to modern
fuels. They instead rely on traditional
biomass fuels like crop
waste,dung, and wood to meet their
basic energy needs.

When used with inefficient devices these

low-quality fuels often result in harmful
health and environmental impacts.

The order of fuels on the energy ladder

corresponds to their efficiency and
‘cleanliness’ at end use.
Although modern fuels tend to be more
costly, they do provide people with far
greater opportunities for income
generation.
Climbing the energy ladder towards more
modern fuels, therefore, is a challenge
most poor people in developing countries
must face in order to improve their
overall standard of living.

Source: REN 21/2006

 energy link to overall human development

There is an empirical
basis to the relationship
between access to
modern energy and
human development.

Energy is strongly linked

to human development.

No country in modern
times has substantially
reduced poverty without
a massive increase in its
use of energy and/or a
shift to efficient energy
sources.

Source: REN 21/2006

 Our local partners

The poor have to be recognized as individuals with rights and as potential

agents of change who can themselves play an increasing role.

In determining social and economic outcomes poor groups should not be

seen merely as a burden on society. Rather, the poor, especially women, are
hard working and often effective microentrepreneurs.

Our local partners

And environment
 Development model

The development model is based on the working

relationship among the various stakeholders
involved in the productive chain with clear
attributions in all levels: local community, local
technical NGO, enterprising development agency ,
servicing companies, Government agents and a
corporation.

Each entity has its respective and important roles

that complement, harmonize and support one
another leading to the ultimate success and
sustainability of the project.

“The private sector can play an important role

towards furthering development, for development
cannot occur without conditions that are amenable to
the conduct of business.” (United Nations)
 General intervention strategies

9 Competitiveness and productivity:

MARKET SIGHT adoption of compatible mechanisms

9 Inclusion
SOCIAL SIGHT 9 Participation
9 Equity

9 Regional clusters formation

GEO SIGHT
9 Adequate logistics

9Attractiveness to private sector

BUSINESS SIGHT 9Favorable climate
9Compatible working tools
 Development model: local NGO

Local NGO´s will support following types of interventions:

9 establishing effective monitoring and evaluation systems, working

closely with cooperating institutions to improve impact assessment
and supervision, and strengthening partnerships with a range of
different players.

9 promoting a global policy environment that increases market access

for the rural poor.

9 directly responsibility to the community - directly involved in the

energy crop cultivation and oil extraction than the development
agency, assessing the communities’ organizational capacity and their
potential to complete and manage an energy project.

9 providing technical, organizational advice, support and training to

the community
 Development model: Foreign Development Agency

Direct main responsibilities of the development agency :

9 To provide seed money and matching grants that can initiate

and support the efforts of the NGO to raise the money needed
for a project and/or provide capacity grants which help to
build their organizational capacity.

9 To popularize the NGO achievements in developing sustainable

energy systems and related environmental protection plans
through the media, internet, and other written and visual
sources (SLUIJS & BODE, 2001).

9 To facilitate trainings for NGOs such as; community surveys of

power demand and potential usage, site selection, the budget
process, choice of appropriate technology, environmental
assessments, feasibility studies, civil design, operational &
fiscal management, micro-enterprise development, long term
planning, and grant writing (SLUIJS & BODE, 2001).
 Development model: Investment agency

MINASINVEST, a not-for profit investment agency, will be primarily in

charge of the social-economic factors coordinating the efforts among
the various stakeholders, which includes:

Building market information systems.

Identifying and coordinating the best partners;

Developing policies and strategies to improve competitiveness;

Strengthening the producers´ negotiating position ;

Providing well-researched analyses;

Government and institutional relationships involved in the project.

 Development model:The Community

The local community possesses direct responsibility towards the day-

today running of the biofuel project . Particular emphasis is given on
the socio-economic empowerment of women, thus women groups will
be specially utilized to manage the project.

The role of the community should therefore be:

● Provision of land for Jatropha plantation and site for the

establishment of the oil extraction unit.
● Responsibility for the day-to-day management of plantation,
including: cultivation and harvesting.
● Commitment of human resources for project development such as
unskilled labor (to handle farmlands), access to skilled labor.

In order to help the community in their quest towards sustainable

development, it is very important that they should be the main
recipient of all benefits accrued from the project.
 End goal & management

The BIO-VALE project can bring about major economic

empowerment by providing income and employment
opportunities to both the rural communities and entreupreneus.

The project can be utilized to stimulate a circular system

combining ecologic, economic, and income-generating effects
(HEN. 1994), particularly to the drought prone rural
communities of the Brazilian semi-arid regions.

The project promotes the main aspects of development, which

combine to help achieve a sustainable way of life for village
farmers in terms of provision of renewable energy, erosion
control, economic empowerment through job creation and
poverty reduction and economic development.

The favorable context in Brazil, the onset of widespread

distribution, the differential tax regime recognizing the
importance of oilseed production by family agriculture units– and
the introduction of the “Social Fuel” label are regulatory
instruments designed to promote social inclusion throughout the
new fuel’s production and value chain.