Global Investment Failures and Transformations: A Review of Hyped <i>Jatropha</i> Spaces

• Main Authors: Richmond Antwi-Bediako, Kei Otsuki, Annelies Zoomers, Aklilu Amsalu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-06-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: biofuel; <i>Jatropha</i>; investment; transformation; government; corporate; hype; bust
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/12/3371

There was a heightened global interest in large-scale <i>Jatropha</i> cultivation for the past few decades, and this incited investment toward the crop in many developing countries. Many saw <i>Jatropha</i> as a green fuel that could possibly be an alternative to fossil fuel, which has adverse implications to deal with the impacts of climate change. However, <i>Jatropha</i> investments failed to meet global expectations, leading to unexpected social, environmental, and economic transformations in the investment spaces. This paper reviews and synthesizes the transformations and complexities in failed <i>Jatropha</i> spaces in six previous major <i>Jatropha</i> investment destinations across the world&#8212;Mexico, India, China, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Ghana&#8212;by employing qualitative data analysis. The findings generally show that, in all of the countries studied, promoters of <i>Jatropha</i> investments, including the central government and private investors, subscribed to a &#8220;wait-and-see&#8221; approach with positive expectations. The review revealed that the intended goal of establishing global <i>Jatropha</i> investments to serve as an alternative source of fuel failed because of the unexpected complexities of the hype, which dwelled much on the deferment option of the &#8220;wait-and-see&#8221; approach for global <i>Jatropha</i> investments. Failure of the investments along with unmet expectations led to land-use changes from <i>Jatropha</i> to the cultivation of other crops (often food crops) or total land abandonment. Although we are not totally pessimistic about the economic and production viability of <i>Jatropha</i> as a biofuel feedstock, we emphasize the importance of paying considerable attention to other feedstocks that might have a better future as alternatives to fossil-based energy for the deployment of sustainable bioenergy. Furthermore, our findings provide meaningful justification for policy- and decision-makers in the development space to tacitly reflect and appraise new investment initiatives or interventions before endorsement.