Biofuel production in Tanzania: Local communities’ perceptions

Abstract

This article presents the case study on how communities in the two districts of Tanzania (i.e. Kilwa and Bagamoyo) perceive investments in biofuel to their livelihoods in the respective areas. Based on the results from this study, the potentials of biofuel production in the wealth creation for poverty alleviation is very low. The case study noted that biofuel production in Tanzania is established in areas where the residents are poor, and the approach used by investors is likely to solidify the state of dependency where people will stay waiting for the investors to come and provide everything to them. In order to have any meaningful gains from biofuel investments to the communities, lessons from similar initiatives in Tanzania and elsewhere in the world should be learned and their strengthens and shortcomings be assessed to establish a more useful schemes. There is a need for the government to have good knowledge of benefits and costs emerging from investing in Biofuel production and also have the communities well prepared to participate and use such investments as an opportunity to get out of poverty. Key words: Biofuel production;Tanzania; Local communities’ perceptions