There is a long-term concern that the cultivation of biofuel feedstocks could have negative impacts on communities involved in, or adjacent to, such projects. In southern Africa, the acquisition and allocation of large blocks of land for biofuel feedstock production has been especially contentious. The present study investigates the local multi-dimensional poverty effects of growing biofuel crops using the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative's Multidimensional Poverty Index. It investigates different modes of production (large-scale vs. smallholder-based) and different feedstocks (sugarcane vs. jatropha) in four study sites in Malawi, Swaziland and Mozambique. In the sugarcane growing areas, those who participated in its value chain as farmers or workers had lower poverty than those who were not involved. However, for jatropha growing areas, there were no clearly defined differences between the controls and the jatropha farmers in Mangochi, while in Mozambique the plantation workers had slightly lower poverty than the control groups. Although it was not possible to make direct comparisons between all projects, sugarcane areas seem to be better off than non-sugarcane areas. In all projects there was generally high incidence of deprivations in indicators related to living standards, particularly, access to electricity and cooking fuel.

长期以来人们一直担心，生物燃料原料的种植可能会对参与此类项目或与其相邻的社区产生负面影响。在南部非洲，获取和分配大块土地用于生物燃料原料生产尤其具有争议性。本研究使用牛津贫困与人类发展计划的多维贫困指数调查了生长生物燃料作物对当地多维贫困的影响。它在马拉维，斯威士兰和莫桑比克的四个研究地点调查了不同的生产方式（大规模与小农经营）和不同的原料（甘蔗与麻风树）。在甘蔗种植区，那些以农民或工人身份参与价值链的人的贫困率要低于未参与其中的人。然而，对于麻疯树种植区，在Mangochi，对照组和麻疯树种植者之间没有明确定义的差异，而在莫桑比克，种植园工人的贫困率比对照组略低。尽管不可能在所有项目之间进行直接比较，但甘蔗地区似乎比非蔗糖地区更好。在所有项目中，与生活水平有关的指标，特别是电力和烹饪燃料的获取，普遍都被剥夺。甘蔗地区似乎比非蔗糖地区更好。在所有项目中，与生活水平有关的指标，特别是电力和烹饪燃料的获取，普遍都被剥夺。甘蔗地区似乎比非蔗糖地区更好。在所有项目中，与生活水平有关的指标，特别是电力和烹饪燃料的获取，普遍都被剥夺。