Fig. 5: Multicropping maize-based product system’s contribution to the SDGs, results of the socio-economic analysis.

Colour scale refers to changes in indicators relative to a reference level. Green colours represent positive impacts on SDGs, red colours represent negative impacts. Darker colours represent higher impacts. Assumptions about the intensity scale are: indicators in percentage variation (%) are compared relatively to the percentage variation in biofuel production (12%), except income, consumption, utility and economic growth indicators, whose relative comparison was a 1% marginal increase; quantitative energy indicators (fuel and power) were assumed increasing by 100% since these are direct products of the maize ethanol plant; emission indicators were compared relatively to emissions from passenger transportation industry; area indicators were compared relatively to the land area currently in use. Credit: icons from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment).