The Tropical Oil Crop Revolution
Food, Feed, Fuel, and Forests
Walter P Falcon author Derek Byerlee author Rosamond L Naylor author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
Published:8th Dec '16
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Over the last two decades global production of soybean and palm oil seeds have increased enormously. Because these tropically rainfed crops are used for food, cooking, animal feed, and biofuels, they have entered the agriculture, food, and energy chains of most nations despite their actual growth being increasingly concentrated in Southeast Asia and South America. The planting of these crops is controversial because they are sown on formerly forested lands, rely on large farmers and agribusiness rather than smallholders for their development, and supply export markets. The contrasts with the famed Green Revolution in rice and wheat of the 1960s through the 1980s are stark, as those irrigated crops were primarily grown by smallholders, depended upon public subsidies for cultivation, and served largely domestic sectors. The overall aim of the book is to provide a broad synthesis of the major supply and demand drivers of the rapid expansion of oil crops in the tropics; its economic, social, and environmental impacts; and the future outlook to 2050. After introducing the dramatic surge in oil crops, chapters provide a comparative perspective from different producing regions for two of the world's most important crops, oil palm and soybeans in the tropics. The following chapters examine the drivers of demand of vegetable oils for food, animal feed, and biodiesel and introduce the reader to price formation in vegetable oil markets and the role of trade in linking consumers across the world to distant producers in a handful of exporting countries. The remaining chapters review evidence on the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the oil crop revolution in the tropics. While both economic benefits and social and environmental costs have been huge, the outlook is for reduced trade-offs and more sustainable outcomes as the oil crop revolution slows and the global, national, and local communities converge on ways to better managed land use changes and land rights.
"This book tells the fascinating story of how the sudden world's appetite for vegetable oils has caused a revolution in global agriculture, spurring rural growth but driving massive deforestation along the way." -- Eric Lambin, George and Setsuko Ishiyama Provostial Professor, Stanford University "The Tropical Oil Crop Revolution provides an urgently needed, rigorous and objective assessment of the issues and should be read by all concerned with conservation and development in humid tropical countries." -- Jeffrey Sayer, founding Director General, Center for International Forestry Research "The tropical oils revolution is perhaps the most important development in developing country agriculture since the Green Revolution. This book is a pleasure to read, and a superb, balanced guide to the most controversial crops of this century." -- David Dawe, Senior Economist, Agricultural Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations "Tropical oils lie at the very epicenter of efforts to move the global food system toward sustainability. Byerlee, Falcon, and Naylor provide a vital factual and analytical underpinning to those efforts." -- Jim Leape, former Director General of World Wildlife Fund International "This is a comprehensive study on the economics of tropical oils crops, covering many different important aspects and will become a guide for those interested in the issue." -- Joaquim Bento de Souza Ferreira Filho, Professor Titular, Universidade de São Paulo "The book is an outstanding achievement, strongly recommended for academics, students, policy makers, civil society advocates, and development professionals, as well as anyone interested in the future of agriculture in a globalizing world." -- Rob Cramb, Professor of Agricultural Development, The University of Queensland "Essential and thought-provoking reading for all interested in agricultural development and the future of land use in the tropics!" -- Ken Giller, Professor of Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
ISBN: 9780190222987
Dimensions: 160mm x 239mm x 28mm
Weight: 544g
304 pages