Biofuels threaten food security

UN Food Specialist Jean Ziegler has warned that the use of agricultural products to produce biofuels to replace oil will make the world less food, even considering it as "a crime." against humanity '.

For that reason, Ziegler called on countries to ban biofuel production within the next five years on the grounds that, during that time, advances in science and technology would allow agricultural waste, such as cores. Corn or banana leaves, into fuel.

The production of biofuels is being boosted with the aim of finding fuels that are less likely to affect the alternative environment for oil. The United States is also seeking to drastically reduce its dependence on imported oil due to political instability in the world's "oil wells." However, this trend has contributed to a sharp increase in US food prices, especially because of agricultural products from cereals, soybeans and corn used to produce ethanol.

 

Food prices rise because more and more land is reserved
planting trees for biofuel production.

Mr. Ziegler is not the only person to raise a warning about this risk. Last week, IMF also expressed concern that the world considers food as a fuel source that can have a strong impact on the lives of poor people.

In mid-October, IWMI International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka, through practical research in India and China - the two countries are strengthening corn and sugarcane to provide biofuel production materials - already warned about the risk of severe drought in both countries because both sugarcane and corn need a lot of water.

According to Charlotte de Fraiture, the lead author of the study, the above-mentioned raw materials can undermine the sustainability of the water source and hence affect the irrigation of other food crops.

At the same time, the US National Research Council also issued a similar warning.

IWMI research said that China is aiming to increase ethanol production by four times by 2020, equivalent to 18 billion liters, meeting 9% of gasoline demand. In 2002, the country produced 4.3 billion liters of ethanol. India also pursues a similar strategy. Last month, the country announced it wanted to double ethanol production next year, meeting 10% of the country's gasoline demand.

According to IWMI research, in order to achieve this goal, China needs to increase 26% of the area planted to corn and India to increase 16% of sugarcane planting area. If so, other food crops in these two countries will be at risk of serious water shortages and the possibility of importing food is clear.