Biofuels part of Brazil's major new anti-poverty initiative

The Brazilian government has unveiled a multi-billion dollar anti-poverty program to provide jobs, electricity and infrastructures in the poorest, rural parts of the country. Bioenergy and biofuels are a key part of the plan, because the sector offers major opportunities for rural development and poverty alleviation. Biofuels create jobs for the country's vast rural populations, improve incomes and livelihoods, and help boost local access to energy. Modern energy is key to health and development, which is why rural electrification is seen as a priority.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the biggest cost to the country was not taxes but a century in which poor people had been forgotten. The program will see some R$ 11.3 billion (€4.5/US$6 billion) spent in 2008 alone. The initiative was launched just a week after Brazil announced that for the first time in its history the country's foreign reserves exceeded its foreign debt.

The extensive program, known as "Territórios da Cidadania" ("Territories of Citizenship"), is meant to help around 24 million people, mainly poor rural workers and indigenous communities in Brazil's vast country-side. Regional and socio-economic integration are the overarching aims of the program.

The money, which is part of the existing budget, will be used to supplement 135 policies, involving 15 government departments, that are focused on 958 towns in states across the country. The areas selected for funding are the 60 regions of Brazil with the lowest rankings on the UN Human Development Index (click to see interactive map).

Speaking in the capital Brasilia, President Lula called the proposals the "second step to ending poverty". Brazil already has a major anti-poverty programme, known as Bolsa Familia, that pays a monthly allowance to more than 11 million families, on the condition they send their children to school.

The new social inclusion and anti-poverty measures include actions such as strengthening family run agriculture, food security programs, the documentation of rural workers, land reform, integral social assistance to poor families, improving access to water and improved sanitation, the creation of energy and agricultural infrastructures, judicial assistance, improved access to labor markets, and various types socio-educational outreach. Social housing, funds to help poor families build homes, and urbanisation programs to improve housing conditions in the favelas are also part of the program.

Rural development and poverty alleviation
Rural development transects all the measures as it is Brazil's small farmers who make up the majority of people in poverty. Amongst the initiatives aimed at strengthening their livelihoods are improved rural credit facilities, strategies to strengthen market access, land reform, the training of land management cadres, more technical and agronomic assistance and extension services, agricultural education for women, the creation of infrastructures - roads, irrigation and energy -, environmental education, assistance with the creation of cooperatives, and the production of biofuels and electricity from biomass:
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Under the set of measures aimed at making production of goods and agriculture socially sustainable (see "Organisação Sustentável da Produção"), the promotion of the production of biodiesel by small farmers is given a budget of R$ 10 million. The program is expected to reach tens of thousands of poor rural families. Biodiesel in Brazil is made from crops such as castor and jatropha - which both grow in the semi-arid regions of the country -, and palm oil and coconut oil. Next-generation biodiesel will be obtained from biomass crops such as grass and wood.

The measure is part of Brazil's larger Pro-Biodiesel program, which works with a "Social Fuel Stamp" - a certificate that can be obtained when producers source their feedstock from registered small farmers. Producers receive incentives to do so, whereas the rural households who grow the feedstock are guaranteed a minimum price. The program is benefiting around 65,000 of Brazil's poorest farmers in the country's semi-arid Nordeste region.

Another program boosts subsidies to improve access to (bio)diesel amongst fishing communities. Fishing is a key livelihood for a large number of indigenous communities as well as settlers in the Amazon. Fuel costs are they key cost for this economic activity. And with rising oil prices, these communities see their incomes decline drastically. Local biofuel production could alter this situation, and fuel subsidies are seen as an efficient step to turn the tide.

'Light for everyone'
The very ambitious project to provide electricity to those without modern energy services is given a boost under the Territories of Citizenship program. The R$862 million (€343/US$510 million) "Luz para Todos" project aims to bring modern energy services to 10 million people or 2.5 million rural households in a first phase. Given that 80% of all rural citizens in Brazil have no access to electricity, the goal is to reach them all by 2015.

Rural electrification is a key step towards development and poverty alleviation. The program is technology neutral but will rely on local renewables where possible. Small hydropower and especially bio-electricity are seen as the key renewables because rural communities and biomass plants can rely on locally available resources.

A recent initiative aimed at backing up the country's energy supplies with decentralised power from biomass is part of the 'Light for All' strategy. Almost 8GW of this new 'green reserve' - a capacity larger than Brazil's two largest new hydropower plants combined - will help improve rural electrification.

Luz Para Todos is coordinated by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, with the operational participation of the Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. (Eletrobrás). The program works with executive concessionaries who distribute the electricity via rural electrification cooperatives, authorized, assisted and controlled by the Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (Aneel).

The program is expected to bring 300,000 direct and indirect jobs to (rural) workers.

Picture: a family of mamona (castor) growers, part of the anti-poverty biodiesel program. Credit: ANBA.

References:
Territórios da Cidadania - dedicated website outlining all the initiatives, funds and benefiting regions.

President of the Republic: Presidente Lula lança programa para reduzir as desigualdades no meio rural - Desenvolvimento Agrário - February 26, 2008.

Ministry for Rural Development: Presidente Lula lança programa para reduzir as desigualdades no meio rural - February 25, 2008.

Jornal do Brasil: Luz será produzida a partir de biomassa - February 25, 2008.

Biopact: Brazil's biomass electricity auction attracts 118 factories with 7.8GW capacity - February 22, 2008

Biopact: An in-depth look at Brazil's "Social Fuel Seal" - March 23, 2007