Development of Brazilian biodiesel sector from the perspective of stakeholders

Abstract

In Brazil, the main program with respect to biodiesel is the National Program of Biodiesel Production and Use (NPBP). It is also considered the regulation mark of biodiesel production in Brazil and its directives are social inclusion and regional development. Considering these directives, this paper aims to analyse the perspective of biodiesel sector stakeholders in Brazil to understand whether NPBP directives are in consonance with the reality of the sector for its development. A questionnaire was created with 48 questions in order to understand the importance of 13 variables for the stakeholders, and the responses were treated by factor analysis (FA). The results showed the existence of a trade-off related to technological advances in biodiesel production that confronts NPBP directives, that is, the biodiesel sector tends not to evolve in terms of the use of advanced technologies. If policies change so as to develop the biodiesel sector using advanced technologies, NPBP should change its directives in order to involve family farmers in another way in the Brazilian economy.