Charcoal supply chains from Mabalane to Maputo: Who benefits?

Abstract

In urban centres of Mozambique, charcoal is the major energy source for cooking. Growing demand drives highwood extraction rates over increasing areas of miombo and mopane woodlands. Charcoal production can lead tochanges in ecosystem service provision and woodland degradation while also significantly contributing to ruralincome and, possibly, poverty alleviation. As such, understanding charcoal production and trade has importantimplications for rural areas and for the sustainable development of woodland resources. Here, we investigatecharcoal production and trade through empirical research conducted in Gaza Province, the main charcoal supplyarea for Maputo, Mozambique.Weanalyse the presentstructure of the main charcoalsupply chains from Gazaprovince to Maputo and the profitdistribution along them. Seven villages in the Mabalane district, Gaza, at different stages of engagement with thecharcoal industry, were selected for investigation. We conducted household surveys and semi-structured inter-views with key informants (village leaders, charcoal producers, licence holders, wholesalers, transporters andforest technicians), from May to October 2014.Our results highlight two main charcoal supply chains comprising four main actor groups a) Local small-scaleoperators producing charcoal on a small-scale with household labour, who sell to wholesalers b) Large-scale op-erators producing and commercialising large volumes of charcoal using migrant labour, who sell their own pro-duction to wholesalers. While charcoal production constitutes an important income source for rural householdsin Mabalane, under supply chain a) more than 90% of the monetary benefits do not reach local communities andremain with external agents. Two of the main factors impeding the generation of greater revenues at communitylevel are: 1) bureaucratic burdens in obtaining charcoal commercialisation rights in the form of licences; and2) weak institutional capacities for woodland resource governance.Weconclude that access to markets and control over woodlands is key if localcommunities are to generate great-er benefits from charcoalproduction whileaiming at sustainablecharcoalproduction. Stronglocal institutionsforobtaining commercialisation rights and managing woodland resources have to be developed, while therestructuring of the licencing system in favour of small-scale producers and more rigorous control of the regula-tions could support this process.