This paper assesses the implications of large-scale investments in biofuels for growth and income distribution. We find that biofuels investment enhances growth and poverty reduction despite some displacement of food crops by biofuels. Overall, the biofuel investment trajectory analyzed increases Mozambique's annual economic growth by 0.6 percentage points and reduces the incidence of poverty by about 6 percentage points over a 12-year phase-in period. Benefits depend on production technology. An outgrower approach to producing biofuels is more pro-poor, due to the greater use of unskilled labor and accrual of land rents to smallholders, compared with the more capital-intensive plantation approach. Moreover, the benefits of outgrower schemes are enhanced if they result in technology spillovers to other crops. These results should not be taken as a green light for unrestrained biofuels development. Rather, they indicate that a carefully designed and managed biofuels policy holds the potential for substantial gains.
Animal diseases that are known to spread primarily through human activities can be prevented and controlled through the application of biosecurity measures along the production and marketing chain, together with increased awareness and education. With this document, FAO, OIE and the World Bank aim to provide applied biosecurity recommendations to all pork production stakeholders in the numerous pig farming systems worldwide, particularly in developing and transition countries. Pig farmers are the main intended beneficiaries of the paper, but it is also of use to veterinary and technical service providers who are in a position to deliver and implement the proposed measures, to decision-makers in government and to project managers in agricultural development.