LAUSR

Abstract Biofuel production is promoted in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to address multiple policy objectives, including energy security, rural development, and climate mitigation. However, several biofuel plantations have been closed or abandoned for various reasons, including a confluence of global circumstances and underperformance at the local level. Nevertheless, there is limited research on the impacts of biofuel plantation closures and post-closure dynamics across SSA. Through interviews in three different communities, this study seeks to highlight issues that are emerging in host communities after the closure or abandonment of biofuel plantations. It was found that critical issues emerging after the closure of plantations include how to secure alternative livelihoods for former workers, whether land rights are to be transferred back to the previous owners, how will ecological restoration of the sites take place, and why investors are rebranding closed projects into other new forms of investments. A new direction of research on land abandonment and post-closure outcomes is necessary to provide insight into policies essential for sustainable development in the host communities. It is, therefore, imperative for new land studies to explore the interface of land abandonment, plantation closure and sustainable development in SSA.