, Volume 27, Issue 3, pp 351-363
First online:
22 August 2009
Open Access
Abstract
This article explores whether and how the biotechnologization process that the fuel-plant Jatropha curcas
is undergoing might strengthen local sustainable development. It
focuses on the ongoing efforts of the multi-stakeholder network Gota
Verde to harness Jatropha within local small-scale production systems in
Yoro, Honduras. It also looks at the genomics research on Jatropha
conducted by the Dutch research institute Plant Research International,
specifically addressing the ways in which that research can assists
local development in Honduras. A territorial approach is applied for
analysis employing a three domain concept (local sustainable biotechnological development)
of territory, technology and re-territorialization. The article
suggests that, although the biotechnologization process (through
genomics) of Jatropha within the socio-technical framework of the
institute and multi-stakeholder networks is an ongoing process––and
different trajectories are, therefore, still open––the process can,
nevertheless, strengthen local sustainable development.
