Biofuels and Food Security Concerns!*

The increasing use of food and feed crops for fuel is altering the fundamental economic dynamics that have governed global agricultural markets for the past century. Investments in crop-based biofuels production are rising steadily as countries seek substitutes for high-priced petroleum products, GHG-emitting fossil fuels, and energy supplies originating from politically unstable countries.

At the global level, the current interest in biofuels is mainly seen in the context of industrial production operating within the framework of an international market governed by globalization rules. Two trends have emerged from the biofuels scene. On the one hand, fossil fuel-importing nations who are seeking an immediate solution to reduce their growing energy expenditures, and on the other hand, countries which are currently-or are interested in becoming-biofuels exporters, are attempting to position themselves strategically within the global energy market. This reflects the great hope for biofuels as key in overcoming the energy crisis, promoting alternative energy, and reducing global warming and its consequences. The industrial scale production of biofuels practiced to date has focused primarily on the conversion of crops such as sugarcane, corn, soyabean etc. as a fuel base. This first generation of biofuels remains contested and is currently the source of a heated debate on the threat that energy security poses to food security.

The former Finance Minister of India, Mr. Chidambaram, while addressing an academic gathering in Singapore observed (2008), that in a ‘climate of food insecurity’ it is ‘outrageous’ that developed countries are turning food crops into biofuels. He said that countries like US were doing so (it is expected that 20% of the corn produced in US goes to making biofuels) while the world’s poor are struggling with surging food prices; and using corn and other crops for fuel is a sign of ‘lopsided priorities’. This reflects the growing divisions between nations on the issue of food security implications of biofuels crops.

*Selected excerpts from one of my earlier Articles!