The main measurable economic impact of biomass production is likely to be income and employment generation. Modern fuels provide for formal employment opportunities where traditional fuels provide informal employment for the poorest members of communities (Cushion et al. 2010).

With respect to informal employment it is recognised that fuelwood production is labour intensive and require between 100 and 170 person-days per terrajoule (TJ) of energy and between 200 and 350 person days per TJ for charcoal production (Fig. 9.2). The benefit of this type of employment generation depends, however, on the value of the labour used for production and could be considered positive if unemployment is high but low or negative when there are alternative uses for this labour (FAO 2005). Fuelwood gathering and trading helps to bridge seasonal income gaps when there is no other employment available and serves as a “safety net” in time of hardship such as during droughts and associated crop failures (Arnold et al.

2003) .

The ease of entry into fuelwood trading means that it is usually characterised by strong competition and low returns. Reliance on an income from fuelwood selling is often seen as a livelihood of last resort and many fuelwood collectors best be assisted by helping them to move into more rewarding, alternative employment activities as these become available (Arnold et al. 2003).

Formal employment in biomass production to supply biofuels could serve as an alternative to informal fuelwood collection activities. Current trends indicate that biomass production for liquid biofuels could substantially increase employment

opportunities in developing countries. In Brazil for instance, formal employment in the sugar sector rose by 53 % between 2000 and 2005 from about 643,000 to 983,000 people as a result of ethanol production. It is projected that the minimum number of people employed by liquid biofuel production in the world by 2030 would be 2 million with the majority in sugarcane and ethanol production. This projection assumes that most production will occur in large scale mechanised operations (Cushion et al. 2010).

The promise of jobs is, however, not always fulfilled. When jobs are created, levels of pay are sometimes so low that employees are not actually better off. In Mozambique employees of a biofuels company, with rights to plant 60,000 ha of Jatropha on previous communal farming and grazing land, were paid the national minimum wage but there was little improvement in their standard of living. Some employees earned less than what they could during a good farming year (Friends of the Earth 2010).

Labour requirements for liquid biofuels are also mostly restricted to short-term work for land clearing and planting and some work at harvest time. Some studies estimate that one permanent job is created for every 100 ha of biofuel planted, with greater potential for job creation in the processing and production industry. When mechanised farming methods are used, employment levels are even lower (Friends of the Earth 2010).

It is possible to deduct potential employment rates for bioenergy plantations from existing timber plantation operations. Silvicultural activities in bioenergy plantations are ideally suited to the creation of low skilled job opportunities and the formation of small scale forestry enterprises in rural areas. Most silvicultural activities require basic education and low levels of basic training (2 weeks to 2 months), enabling people from marginalised rural areas to participate in economic activities (Forestry Solutions 2007).

Silvicultural activities are spread over the life cycle of a hectare of trees that could range from as short as 6 years in the case of short rotation eucalypt plantations to 25 years in the case of pine saw timber in South Africa. Table 9.3 illustrates the typical life cycle of a pine sawtimber hectare, that could yield biomass residue for bioenergy production, with the timing of activities and labour (person days/per hectare) required to perform these activities (Established at 1,372 stems per hectare on fairly level land).

It is, important to observe that 50 % of the labour activities happen during the first 2 years after plantation establishment. Unthinned pulpwood and biomass working circles share the first operations until first thinning and would thus not differ substantially in person working days. As a result of this any job creation programme based on silvicultural activities will have to rely on a sustained programme of afforestation and/or reforestation to have a substantial economic effect in rural areas.

De Beer (2012) translates these man day values into labour per hectare and estimates that 0.15 labourers are directly employed per hectare of plantation forestry in the Western Cape of South Africa. Shackleton (2004) estimates that activities along the forestry value chain can create up to three jobs per primary forestry job.

Over and above direct employment benefits, Ofoegbu (2010) found in a study related to the social benefits of plantations in South Africa that rural communities adjacent to plantations also have access to harvest residues as fuelwood and source of building material, could utilize non-timber resources from plantations and had access to free accommodation, free farmland and free grazing land.