Mit nachwachsenden Ressourcen die Abhängigkeit von Öl vermindern - so untertitelt die Bundesregierung ihre Strategie zur Förderung der Bioökonomie in Deutschland (BMBF 2013). Zur Bioökonomie zählen alle Wirtschaftsbereiche, die nachwachsende Rohstoffe erzeugen, verarbeiten und handeln....

The challenges facing the 21st century, presented by a growing global population, range from food security to sustainable energy supplies to the diminishing availability of fossil raw materials. An attempt to solve these problems is made by using the concept of bioeconomy. Plants, in particular,...

This paper identifies the effect of aspirations on the adoption of agricultural innovations in the context of rural Ethiopia. While most studies on agricultural innovations have focused on identifying observable and resource-related deprivations or 'external' constraints, a related stream of...

With numerous challenges hindering smallholders' adoption of externally developed technologies, it is often argued that farmer innovation can play an essential role in rural livelihoods. Yet a rigorous assessment of the impact of farmer innovation is lacking. We address this issue by analyzing...

During a time in which the subject of climate change is deemed high on the list of priorities of many governments, it is important to assess to what extent policies in this field are achieving meaningful results. The link between energy usage and global warming is clear and today in the European...

Nach einem drastischen Einbruch im vergangenen Jahr ziehen die Milchpreise wieder an. Doch auch künftig kann es zu Preiseinbrüchen in der Milchwirtschaft kommen. Zum einen wirken sich im Zuge der fortschreitenden Liberalisierung der Agrarmärkte internationale Marktentwicklungen verstärkt auf...

This paper summarises the results of the Sphere+ Project (Substitution Projects for Health and Environment, Lessons from Results and Experiences) and in particular the outcomes of FEEM's contribution in the field of substituting hazardous molecules used to control weeds to preserve the quality...

We conduct an examination of the climate effect to analyze the historical dependence of grain production on temperatures and precipitation levels, and project this dependence to estimate the productivity of different grain types in the mid- and long-terms, given four greenhouse gas concentration...

Mozambique is one of the most promising African countries for producing biofuels and the national biofuel policy of 2009 identifies measures to incentivize biofuel production. Demand for biofuels in the Southern African Development Community is expected to increase over the next few years as 7...

It is estimated that biofuel demand in South Africa will increase to 1,550 million litres by 2025 following the introduction of mandatory blending rates in 2014. Land and water constraints, however, limit domestic supply ability. Zambia, due to abundance of land, suitable climate, supportive...