Another Mouth to Feed
As biofuels boom, will more go hungry?
By Ruth Gidley Wed Mar 7, 10:11 AM ET
By Ruth Gidley Wed Mar 7, 10:11 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Using plants to feed our fuel needs may be a great idea, and the biofuel goldrush could be a moneyspinner for several poor countries, but some experts warn people may go hungry as food prices rise.
Fans of biofuels give the impression we could soon be running cars on maize, producing electricity with sugar, and getting power from palm oil.
Even though the biofuel boom is only just beginning, it has already pushed up the cost of staples in places like Mexico where rocketing tortilla prices have sparked angry protests.
Some experts foresee a permanent change in food economics if farmers scent higher profit in fuel crops than in growing plants to feed people.
posted by BG at 8:45 PM
5 Comments:
i think that price of food rise up because of the protectionism of the agriculture and the imperfectness of the global market. lot of food cant be send where its needed, and its broken or thrown away (distroyed) so that governments can keep the price of the goods high and keep the social peace. (tons and tons of milk , corn, oil, sugar)
the governments are still subsidizing the agriculture products which means that the price is higher than it should be, and productivity is low.
governments should focus on this, not on alternative fuel. becuase the rise of price of food only can be short term. long term will be dicreasing.
long term, there are scientific dicoveries in EU that can create energy from anti-matter, so other sources will be obsolete then.
11:49 PM
Oh yeah... and we're running out of fossil fuel. Indonesia's oil reserves will only last for the next 25 years if we don't start to reduce our oil consumption. Globally, we need to find alternative energy resource, and biofuel is one such thing (apart from wind, water, even the controversial nuclear).
I think to conclude that food prices will increase as CPO production goes up is too simplistic. Prices of food will fluctuate with or without palm CPO production.
In Indonesia, the government is targeting 2000 villages to be independent from energy supply by 2009, so they produce their own energy sources by using renewables. I guess this will help those villages to develop their own agricutural sector.
But then again, developing monocultural plantations have another different argument, from the environmentalists' perspective, at least.
If you're talking about CSR strategies, about there are so many people living in famine while costs of food is increasing as CPO prices goes up...well,instead of worrying about that, perhaps we can start thinking how can be energy-efficient while be cost effective when it comes to food...
Siz
PS: monitoring news for state-oil company for 2 a half months can really turn you into an energy nerd.
7:55 AM
quit your crying.
u never stop complaining
1:46 PM
gee anonymous, that's helpful. thanks.
there's some interesting forces at play here.
i wonder if the whole thing will play out such that farmers will inherit the earth by becoming the new oil barrons? where we see new york/london sized prices for tiny parcels of farmland. where cities become more dense so farmland can be reclaimed...
it'd be an interesting switch of roles.
5:55 PM
This reminds me of a scene from Blood Diamond. An old farmer stops Djimon Honsou's character and asks him why Leonardo DiCaprio's character is in the village.
Djimon says he's crazy about diamonds. The old man replies something to the effect of - "Thank God, they haven't found oil here. Then we'd all be in trouble!"
I don't necessarily agree that there will be a food shortage. Although there might be a dramatic change in what kind of food becomes readily available.
If they're "forced" (govt. regulations, market demands for food (Duh!)) to grow food as opposed to high $$ yeildnig bio-fuel, farmers will automatically move higher up the 'food' value chain, by growing higher $$ foods like nuts, and spices as opposed to lower $$, yet more essential stuff like wheat.
6:43 AM
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