Rural producers can play a key role in growing biomass for biofuel production. It is, however, important to consider their exposure to risks brought on by aspects such as crop failures and delays between planting and harvesting of the crop. In the case where the small scale producer bears all the risk it can be seen as a direct threat to security of livelihoods. Jatropha (Fig. 9.3) is for instance a labour intensive crop that is harvested by hand and is regarded as being ideally suited to small scale producers. Farmers that sign up to grow Jatropha can, however, face years of investment before they can harvest seeds. Studies in Mozambique and Swaziland found that many subsistence farmers gave up growing Jatropha after the first year due to difficulty with growing the plant. Without a harvest to sell they have no income from the land and if food crops were replaced by Jatropha it can leave farmers without food and income (Friends of the Earth 2010). Risk reducing strategies based on a production portfolio of biomass and food crops on a larger scale, as discussed in Chap. 5 for commercial plantations, are often not a viable option for small scale producers, since their manpower and access to land is often limited. Therefore innovative options for risk reduction must be found.

Initiatives to spread the risk between biofuel companies and small scale farmers could include diversification of crops where biofuels are intercropped with food crops and the use of unproductive land for biofuel crops. In the cases where there is a time delay in biofuel production, farmers could be encouraged to grow short rotation food crops (Practical Action Consulting 2009).

Risks for small scale farmers also arise from market isolation and lack of awareness of market trends and prices. Initiatives that encourage cooperatives

and producer groups enable joint bargaining and the pooling of resources for mechanisms such as bridging loans could help to reduce the risk for each producer (Practical Action Consulting 2009). Linkages between small scale farmers and bioenergy companies can reduce risk by functioning as a market-based ecosystem that allows companies and farmers to act together and create wealth in a symbiotic relationship. These actors depend on each other, the system adapts and evolves and will often be both resilient and flexible (Prahalad 2006).