Aims and structure

FICESSA aims to provide clear empirical evidence of how industrial crops compete for land with food crops in Sub-Sahara Africa, and the mechanisms through which such land use changes affect food security.

We study food security outcomes across different industrial crops (sugarcane, jatropha, cotton, tobacco), modes of productions (large plantations, smallholders, outgrowers), spatial (local, national, regional) and temporal scales (historical analysis, scenario modeling) using various analytical approaches.

FICESSA consists of 8 interlinked work-packages

WP1: Local food security outcomes of industrial crop expansion

identify the mechanisms through which industrial crops compete for land with food crops in Sub-Sahara Africa
identify the mechanisms through which land use change effects due to this competition, affect local food security
assess the local food security outcomes of operational industrial crop projects in 5 African countries

WP2: Institutional landscape for industrial crops

identify the main stakeholders involved in industrial crop and food security issues in the five study countries
identify existing agricultural development and food security policies in the five study countries
analyse the evolution of these policies and their implication for food security

WP3: Species Distribution Modeling (SDM)

develop state-of-the-art SDMs with a special focus on crop modelling, applying them to different species of industrial crops, food crops, Wild Crop Relatives (WCRs), minor food plants, and pests
identify robust bioclimatic and environmental envelopes for these species and the potential regions available for each target species in Sub-Sahara Africa
incorporate information about non-climate parameters such as plant traits, crops’ genetic composition, or land use in the modelling approach
project future available areas for each target species under a range of climate change scenarios
assess areas for present and future expansion in the light of current/projected land use change and vegetation sensitivity to climate variability
assess plant functional traits able to maximise productivity and resilience

WP4: Systems-based modeling

develop systems-based models of the positive and negative feedbacks between industrial crop expansion, land use change and national/local food security,
validate and apply these models for one of the study countries

WP5: Macroeconomic modeling (Computable General Equilibrium modeling, CGE)

refine and customize a CGE model to capture food security outcomes due to industrial crop expansion
evaluate the economy-wide implications of large-scale IC investments for a case country

WP6: Synthesis of modeling outputs

ensure all modelling components are properly informed by field data
facilitate iterative modelling exercises between work-packages
develop integrated conclusions from all modelling components

WP7: Recommendations to end-users and dissemination of results

establish a dissemination strategy that will allow the coordinated dissemination of research findings across FICESSA and maximize their impact
develop a set of recommendations to various end-users
facilitate science-policy-society interface and engagement with end-users

WP8: Project management

coordinate the research and dissemination activities of FICESSA
facilitate communication between FICESSA and the Belmont Forum Secretariat

Case Study Sites

FICESSA case studies represent a variety of industrial crops (sugarcane, jatropha, cotton, tobacco), ranging from low-value crops (jatropha) to high-value crops (tobacco). Furthermore, they represent different modes of production (i.e. large plantations, smallholders, outgrowers) with different land tenure arrangements.

Cotton

Ghana: Plantation Development Ltd (PDL) is a private cotton company with over 25 years of experience in cotton production in the Upper West region. It has been working with smallholder farmers that grow cotton in their own land and sell to PDL under contract.

Oil palm

Ghana: The Juaben Oil Palm Out-growers Cooperative Society (JOPOCOS) is a smallholder-based project that includes 627 smallholders from 25 communities who grow oil palm in 1.088 ha. They sell oil palm fruit to the adjacent Juaben Oil Mills Ltd. (JOML).
Ghana: Buaban Oil Palm Outgrower Project (BOPOP) includes about 1000 smallholder farmers that grow oil palm in 3,300 ha. BOPOP is integrated into the supply chain of Unilever Ghana.

Jatropha

Malawi: BioEnergy Resources Ltd (BERL) incentivized thousands of smallholders across Malawi to grow jatropha. BERL buys the produced seeds with the aim of blending straight jatropha oil into diesel
Mozambique: Niqel is a large plantation currently growing jatropha on more than 3,000 ha under rainfed conditions. When in full operation it is expected to span 6,500 ha and produce a large portion of the feedstock needed to meet the biodiesel mandate of the Government of Mozambique. Currently, it is one of the few jatropha projects that have not collapsed in Mozambique

Sugarcane

Malawi: The Dwangwa-Illovo sugarcane project combines a large irrigated sugarcane plantation (Illovo) with linked irrigated smallholders (Dwangwa Trust) and rainfed individual farmers organized in a number of grower associations. It is mature from the production and market-side, given the long-standing support of the Government of Malawi for sugarcane, both for sugar production and ethanol for transport
Swaziland (sugarcane): The RSSC-SWADE sugarcane project combines two large sugarcane plantations (RSSC and SWADE). RSSC is one of the largest sugar producers in southern Africa. SWADE has piloted an alternative production model where land owned by smallholders is pooled to form a commercial sugarcane enterprise (essentially a large plantation) that is fully owned by the community. This fairly unique format combines aspects of large-scale and small-scale production

Tobacco

Malawi: Tobacco export is a significant revenue stream for Malawi. We will identify villages that contain both jatropha and tobacco smallholders in order to compare the food security outcomes of a low (jatropha) and a high value crop (tobacco).

Location of case study countries in relation to Sub Saharan Africa