Re&agri 2014 growing power exploring energy needs in smallholder agriculture - sarah

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Sarah Best 2 December 2014

Author name Date Sarah Best 2 December 2014

RE & Agri Conference, Tunis, 2-4 December 2014 Sarah Best, Senior Researcher, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Growing Power: Exploring Energy Needs in Smallholder Agriculture

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Presentation Outline

1. What’s the state of play? Approaches of energy and agri-food sectors

2. What are smallholder energy needs?

3. Learning from experience: Key barriers and lessons from pilot phase

4. Conclusions and research needs

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1. State of Play

• ‘Energy-food-water-climate’ nexus & ‘productive uses of energy’ are hot topics – but energy for smallholders is neglected

• RE and smallholder agriculture: growing number of examples, but still at pilot stage and many barriers to implementation and scale

• Lack of research and sharing on what works and the impacts

• Complex issue with multiple challenges - access, sustainability, climate, food and water security, jobs, livelihoods, gender etc

We need to re-think the role of energy

in food systems” (FAO, 2012)

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Is this an energy, food, climate or water issue? Sectors have different approaches

ENERGY • Traditionally energy technology

and supply-led, though becoming more demand driven

• Focus on ‘modern energy’, over human or 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, farm

as energy producer and user • Concern for food security,

production, environment, migration – energy one input among many

• Meets energy gaps by increasing supply or reducing demand

• Interest in modern and traditional energy. Intervention types:

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

• Sustainable agriculture (e.g. no-till)

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2. ‘RE for agriculture’: Who are we talking about? What and where are the energy needs?

• Agricultural production and on-farm energy use? Subsistence to large-scale commercial?

• The agri-food value chain? • Rural communities (farming, non-farming activities)

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Understanding energy needs: a value chain approach

PRODUCTION (crops, livestock, fish)

• Land preparation • Irrigation • Fertilising • Crop Protection • Harvesting,Threshing • Feeding • Water Provision • Shelter • Catching Fish

PROCESSING, POST-HARVEST AND STORAGE

• Drying • Milling • Pressing • Packing • Storing

DISTRIBUTION AND RETAIL

• Infrastructure and transport

• ICTs • Training • Selling

ELECTRICITY MECHANICAL POWER THERMAL/ HOUSEHOLD FUELS

Adapted from Practical Action, Poor People’s Energy Outlook, 2012

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Understanding energy needs: a wider, rural development approach

• Medical centres • Street lighting • Schools • Religious

buildings • Drinking water • Sewage pumps

•Food kiosks •Restaurants, bars •Barbers, hairdressers • Internet café •Carpentry, metal workshops, repair

•Production •Processing •Storage •Distribution

•Cooking •Lighting •Phone charging •TV & radio •Space heating and cooling

•Refrigeration

Household Ag value chain

Community services

Rural business

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Key points on energy needs • Well-recognised energy access gaps in land preparation, irrigation,

processing and storage

• But energy needs are more wide-ranging and solutions vary across contexts - e.g. grains vs fresh fruits to address storage/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

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3. Learning from experience: barriers and lessons learned

The PILOT PHASE!

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10 barriers to improved energy access and use for productive activities in smallholder contexts

• Power, politics and change in rural development

• Weak demand, customers’ poverty, geography

• Supply-led approach to electrification, lack of focus on mechanical and thermal power

• RE technology constraints

• Institutions - lack of joined-up policies across sectors (e.g. credit, extension services)

• Finance – users, SMEs

• Capacity gaps at all levels

• Availability and affordability of input products, equipment and services

• Lack of market access for sale of final products

• … AND challenges to scale-up of sustainable agriculture and ‘integrated food-energy systems’ (complexity, workload; trade-offs; time horizons; access to technical support)

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Multi-functional Platforms in West Africa (UNDP)

• Targeted tasks done by

women and children, like post-harvest processing

• Diesel engine + equipment • Female management • In Mali, 450 platforms

installed by end 2004 • Positive results early on – 2-

6 hour time savings/day, girls’ primary school attendance

• But 1/3 platforms not in operation end 2005, organisational problems (Nygard, 2010)

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Solar Market Gardens in Kalalé, NE Benin (SELF) • Solar Electric Light Fund +

partners http://self.org/benin-3/ • Solar water pumping + drip

irrigation, goal of whole village electrification

• Focus on women’s co-ops • Results: increase in

household income and nutritional intake and cost effective compared to other technologies (Burney et al, 2010) http://tinyurl.com/kk55fod

• But how to scale up and achieve economic sustainability?

Photo credit: SELF

http://self.org/benin-3/

http://tinyurl.com/kk55fod

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Learning from other examples of scale

Treadle Pumps, South Asia

2-wheel tractor

US electricity co-ops (1930s)

China domestic biogas

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4. Conclusions • We’re not starting from scratch – plenty of experience to learn from

• Smallholders present opportunities for innovation – not yet locked into high fossil fuel path

• No ‘master plan’ that works for all contexts, but likely success factors: - Think holistically around user needs - Involve people more to understand need, raise awareness and demand - 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 - Promote joined up approaches between sectors, but also look for

pragmatic interventions e.g. equipment leasing by energy providers

• Finance: Need to shift mindsets and policy to increase public & donor finance for decentralized, off-grid energy, and sustainable agriculture

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Possible quandaries and research gaps

1. Power and politics: how does renewable energy fit with governments wider priorities for food security and rural development? Where are the political levers and blockers to change?

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

3. What are relative roles of the public and private sector? How can the risks for commercial or semi-commercial investors be addressed?

4. What type of business model innovations could make RE for agriculture accessible, affordable and workable (cf household energy sector with mobile phone payments)

5. Learning from the past and the hidden: Are there promising examples ‘under the radar’ e.g. mini-grids?

6. How do we promote more & better measurement of energy access impacts for rural communities and across agri-food chain?

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Author name Date Sarah Best 2 December 2014

Contacts: [email protected] ‘Growing Power’ paper: http://pubs.iied.org/16562IIED.html IIED energy page: http://www.iied.org/energy IIED energy and extractives publications: http://pubs.iied.org/search.php?c=energy

Thank you

mailto:[email protected]

http://pubs.iied.org/16562IIED.html

http://www.iied.org/energy

http://pubs.iied.org/search.php?c=energy

http://pubs.iied.org/search.php?c=energy

Re&agri 2014 growing power exploring energy needs in smallholder agriculture - sarah

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