Do Biofuels Cause Food Shortage?
Increased Biofuel Production Affects World’s Ability to Feed Itself.
The world food shortage is being blamed on increased biofuel production. Do biofuels cause world food shortage or are there other reasons for this food scarcity?
Biofuels are an increasingly important weapon in the armory against rising emissions of greenhouse gas and the battle against global warming. With their alleged carbon neutrality they seemed to be the perfect “silver bullet” to the environmental problems the world is now facing. But now doubts are emerging, especially in relation to the increasing world shortage of food and increased biofuel production.
Increase in Biofuel Production
In the U.K. the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation Bill, passed in April 2008 states “All petrol sold in the UK will have to include at least 2.5 per cent biofuels, rising to 5 per cent by 2010.” In December, 2007, George Bush signed the "Energy Independence and Security Act" which mandated a fivefold increase in production levels of biofuels by 2022 to 36 billion gallons. Countries as far apart as Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and Brazil have all invested heavily in the production of Biofuels, in order to limit their carbon emissions and their reliance on fossil fuels.
Increase in Food Scarcity and Price
The global food price index of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued in 2007 rose 40 percent in 2007 to the highest level on record. In Switzerland, United Nations head Ban Ki-Moon said "We risk the specter of wider-spread hunger, malnutrition and social unrest on an unprecedented scale," Ever rising food prices and food shortages are occurring in Haiti, Indonesia, Egypt, Mexico. Because of the rising price of food commodities such as rice, many countries in Asia are refusing to export this stable food. A Reuters of India report states that “Faced with surging commodities prices, an increasing number of countries have imposed curbs on food exports in a bid to secure supplies and limit inflation.”
Do Biofuels Cause Food Shortage
In a report published in the French daily Liberation, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler singled out the US support of biofuels for particularly harsh criticism. The German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said in Washington at a World Bank meeting that “Increasing production of biofuels was 30 to 70 per cent responsible for the rapid rise in food prices.” On the other hand, Thai Prime minister Samak Sundaravej, whose country is a large producer and user of biofuels lashed out at the World Bank over its claim of biofuels causing food shortages. In the Bangkok Post he said “Let me ask the World Bank whether they had ever asked oil-exporting countries before pointing their fingers and blaming us for having to use rice fields to grow biofuel crops.” Likewise, President Lula of Brazil, whose country is the world’s largest producer of ethanol from crops, said “The solution is that we need to produce more food, but don’t tell me that the increase in prices is because of biofuels.”
Other Reasons for Food Shortage
Notwithstanding the effects of biofuels on food production there are other factors involved in the high cost and scarcity of basic foodstuffs. Australia has suffered a crippling drought over the last two years which has affected its ability to produce food. The ever increasing affluent Chinese and Indian middle classes are also raising demand for food. Most important of all, experts fear that it is global warming, with its unpredictable weather effects, that is having a major effect on the worlds ability to feed its growing population.
Biofuels will continue to be used in the battle against global warming, but in the light of the increasing shortage of food, the means of biofuel production and biofuel land usage will have to be reevaluated. New technologies and fallow land reclamation procedures may allow the world to enjoy the advantages of biofuels without sacrificing the world’s ability to feed itself.
