SNV addresses sustainable production of biofuel feedstock in Central America (Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador) as a means of tackling various problems such as energy, employment, migration and rural agricultural development, through linking small and medium producers to large producers.

The Central American programme (2008-2010) aims to generate 13,000 direct new job opportunities and 18,000 indirect ones in the biofuels sector and to increase the annual household income of 3,000 small producers (owners of 10 hectares on average). To achieve this, the programme is implemented through projects that consider aspects such as Inclusive Business (www.inclusivebusiness.org), financial solutions, regulatory frameworks, linking actors and conducting vocational training. Specific objectives of the programme are to:

• Develop proposals for financial solutions for biofuel feedstock production with an inclusive business approach, through facilitating the integration and functioning of feedstock clusters oriented towards small and poor producers for sustainable production and expansion of feedstock;
• Support the development of a biofuels market through an inclusive business approach, carrying out studies on biofuels market/price tendencies, national needs, feedstock and its relation to the national food security;
• Support the Honduran Government to improve its regulatory framework for the sustainable production of biofuels, advocating and contributing to the establishment of clear rules for the biofuels sector and encouraging production and commercialisation of sustainable biofuels in the country, in compliance with environmental sustainability, social inclusion and equity;
• Contribute to the capacity building of small feedstock producers through vocational training, promoting inclusive and competitive business initiatives in the biofuel sector, involving local communities and small-scale agricultural producers in biofuel production chains.

In order to facilitate investments from the private and public sector, SNV focuses on concrete project proposals. At this moment the focus lies on the following projects:

1. Inclusive Business model for Corozo extraction;
2. Inclusive Business project for Jatropha cultivation;
3. Sustainable biofuels value chain development in an existing African Oil Palm Plantation (www.panda.org);
4. Inclusive Business models in castor oil production (castor plant) in El Salvador.