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Agrofuels in Thailand: Policies, Practices and Prospects

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Sustainable Production Consumption Systems

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Abstract

Agrofuels, defined here as agriculture-based liquid transportation fuels, have been widely promoted as a renewable, sustainable, energy source which could reduce dependency on fossil-fuel imports. But the evidence of current and potential future contributions to sustainability is modest and mixed, varying with crops, places, markets and societies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

     Sugarcane is grown mainly in the central and northern regions of Thailand in two main planting seasons: from February through to April if it is to be irrigated, and from April to May if it is rain-fed cultivation. In the northern region, planting season runs from October to November and is mostly rain-fed cultivation.

  2. 2.

     SPV is a legal entity (usually a limited company of some type or, sometimes, a limited partnership) created to fulfill narrow, specific or temporary objectives. SPVs are typically used by companies to isolate the firm from financial risk. A company will transfer assets to the SPE for management or use the SPE to finance a large project thereby achieving a narrow set of goals without putting the entire firm at risk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_purpose_vehicle).

  3. 3.

     http://www.thebioenergysite.com/news/1299/thailand-an-ethanol-centre.

  4. 4.

     Breeding and crop improvement research on other important crops such as rice, cassava, and sugarcane (the three principal crops of Thailand) are almost exclusively conducted by the public sector. The Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives is the largest performer of agricultural research, with an annual research budget of $80 million to $90 million for research on crops, livestock, forestry, and fisheries. Public universities also have significant programs in agricultural research, funded through the Ministry of University Affairs and through grants from the Thailand Research Fund and the National Research Council. A $10-million annual biotechnology research program, most of which is devoted to agriculture, is funded through the National Science and Technology Development Agency, an autonomous public corporation under the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Energy. In addition to investing in public research, the Thai Government has also encouraged private investment in research, although these efforts appear to have had only limited success (TDRI 1990).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit for Social and Environmental Research, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

    Rajesh Daniel & Louis Lebel

  2. Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment (JGSEE), King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand

    Shabbir H. Gheewala

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  1. Rajesh Daniel
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Social Sciences, Unit for Social & Environmental, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand

    Louis Lebel

  2. SERI Deutschland e.V., Glatzer Str. 1, Overath, 51491, Germany

    Sylvia Lorek

  3. Fac. Social Sciences, Unit for Social & Environmental, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand

    Rajesh Daniel

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Daniel, R., Lebel, L., Gheewala, S.H. (2009). Agrofuels in Thailand: Policies, Practices and Prospects. In: Lebel, L., Lorek, S., Daniel, R. (eds) Sustainable Production Consumption Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3090-0_6

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