Inclusive economic development : the case of the South African biofuels cluster

Abstract

There is growing debate and interest by global institutions such as the World Bank, World Economic Forum and academics alike, in the field of inclusive growth and development. The current debates pivot on the pace, patterns and process of including marginalised groups such as women, youth and persons living with disabilities (PWD) into the market economy. Inclusive growth focussed on the use of broad-based participation in the market economy, while inclusive development pivots on the inclusion of the marginalised in the process of economic development. The debate, however, fails to incorporate the role of industrialised economic development. The purpose of the study is to understand the latent potential the South African biofuels sector may hold in local economic development and the participation opportunities. An inclusive economic development construct was developed with the intention to incorporate localised industrial development, thereby increasing the participation of marginalised groups in the process and pace of development. The theoretical construct was applied to the contentious biofuels industry development process. The draft position paper on the biofuels regulatory framework was used as the foundation of the research data gathering and analysis of the two-phased qualitative method. The qualitative content analysis instrument was used across both phases, and triangulated to increase the validity and reliability of the findings. The evidence suggests that the biofuels industry holds the potential for inclusive economic development. The achievement of inclusive economic development is, however, dependent on the policy development and process legitimacy and coherence across and within existing structures. Demand and supply-side policies are still outstanding to stimulate the development of the new industry, while possible diversification opportunities exist through the use of co-production to enter existing high value markets and value chains.