Biodiesel in Brazil: Raimundo de Jesus Santos

Interview Participant: Raimundo de Jesus SantosLocation (Town/District/State/Country): Fazenda 02 Maio, Projeto Cajazeiro 1, Municipio Una, Bahia, BrazilInterview Date: 05/06/2010Interview Language: PortuguesePhD Research Title:Social Sustainability in Biodiesel Production: Brazil and Timor-LesteUniversity: University of Technology SydneyMain Researcher: Sarina KilhamSecondary Researchers (if Present): Ednilson Ribeiro Santos (Videographer); Edson F. Macedo (driver)Fund source: Research partly funded by Australian Postgraduate Award and ETC Energy GrantVideo of Interview: YesAudio of Interview: YesParticipant to remain anonymous: NoGeneral Project InformationThis was a qualitative transdisciplinary research project undertaken as part of PhD research by Sarina Kilham. The purpose of this research was to consider smallholder farmers participation in biodiesel schemes and the ways that biodiesel schemes have been incorporated into rural livelihoods. This study provides a way to bring smallholder farmers’ experiences to the fore in the biodiesel debate. I interviewed smallholder farmers participating in government led biodiesel schemes in Brazil and Timor-Leste. These two biodiesel schemes were chosen due to similarities between the rural development and social inclusion goals of each scheme. I used a transdisciplinary research approach that was problem-centred, collaborative and methodologically flexible. Through the application of Grounded Theory Method to the farmer informants’ narratives, I developed a novel conceptual framework titled the Autonomous Livelihood Framework. Archiving the data was approved by the University of Technology Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee - project protocol 2010-105A. Each farmer informant was explicitly asked about inclusion of their material in the databank and informed about the embargo periods imposed on the data. All data included in this dataset has been approved by the farmer participants.