STS: Call to stop use of grain-based biofuels
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- Date: Fri, 02 May 2008 10:48:36 +0800
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http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_232816.html
Call to stop use of grain-based biofuels
Food scientists say such a move would cut prices of corn and other grains
May 1, 2008
FOOD: Experts say farmers will need to double global food production by 2030
to meet rising demand.
WASHINGTON - BILLIONS of dollars have been poured into developing ethanol
and biodiesel to help wean rich economies from their addiction to
carbon-belching fossil fuels, the overwhelming source of man-made global
warming.
But now some top international food scientists have recommended a halt in
the use of food-based biofuels like corn-based ethanol because they say such
a move would cut corn prices by 20 per cent during a world food crisis.
A 'biofuels frenzy' and other misguided policies have led to the global food
crisis in which prices have soared and rice consumption has outpaced
production, threatening a billion people with malnutrition, experts said on
Tuesday.
International agriculture researchers warned that farmers will need to
double global food production by 2030 to meet rising demand.
They said nations need to rethink programmes that divert foods like corn and
soya beans to 'greener' fuel, given the expanding worldwide food crisis.
Such programmes force prices higher and remove farmland from food
production.
If leading nations stopped biofuel use this year, it would lead to a price
decline in corn by about 20 per cent and wheat by about 10 per cent from
2009-10, said Mr Joachim von Braun of the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a global network that uses
science to fight hunger.
Mr von Braun, who heads the International Food Policy Research Institute in
Washington, the policy arm of the CGIAR, and two other scientists in the
group said that work should be stepped up on the use of non-grain crops,
such as switchgrass, for biofuel.
Soil sciences professor Rattan Lal of Ohio State University, who is not
associated with the group, agreed with their call for a halt on the use of
grain for fuel, saying: 'We have one billion people who are food-insecure.
We can't afford the luxury of not taking care of them and taking care of
gasoline.'
Mr von Braun said the US and other countries have to make a hard choice
between fighting high fuel prices and fighting world hunger.
'If you place a high value on food security for poor people, then the
conclusion is clear that we step on the brake awhile,' he said.
'If you place a high value on national energy security, other considerations
come into play.'
On Tuesday, US President George W. Bush declared that the United States
should increase ethanol use because of national energy security and high
gasoline prices.
A World Bank study has estimated that corn prices 'rose by over 60 per cent
from 2005-2007, largely because of the US ethanol programme' along with
market forces.
Other nations, such as South Africa, have stopped or slowed the push to
ethanol. But as the US is the biggest producer, if it does nothing, other
nations' efforts will not amount to much, said Mr von Braun.
He said that many issues are causing the food crisis, especially market
forces and speculation, but that biofuel use is a top cause.
But just how big biofuel's effect is on food prices depends on who is
talking.
A soon-to-be-released International Food Policy Research Institute analysis
blames 30 per cent of the overall food price rise from 2000-2007 on
biofuels.
An industry-funded study put the food cost rise from biofuels at 4 per cent.
WASHINGTON POST, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
____
Biofuel boom threatens food supplies: Nestle
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/World/STIStory_219912.html
____
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/080430/afp/080430151027asiapacificnews.html
One billion Asians affected by surging food prices: development bank
Wednesday April 30, 11:10 PM
MADRID (AFP) - One billion people in Asia are seriously affected by surging
global food prices, the director general of the Asian Development Bank,
Rajat Nag, said Wednesday.
"This includes roughly about 600 million people who live on just under a
dollar a day, which is the definition of poverty, and another 400 million
who are just above that borderline," he told a news conference in Madrid.
Soaring food prices will be the focus of discussions when the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) gathers for a four-day annual meeting that gets
underway Saturday in the Spanish capital, Nag said.
"We will talk about ways to help the poor including targeting cash income
support and ADB will respond to requests from the governments to help them
with emergency assistance for budgetary support for that," he said.
"We will also discuss in the longer term what to do about increased
investments in agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation systems, farm
to market roads greater support for rural finances," he added.
The ADB predicts inflation in Asia will hit 5.1 percent in 2008, its highest
level in ten years due mostly to the rise in food and fuel costs.
"We believe this is the greatest policy challenge which we face," Nag said.
The food price rises are blamed on higher energy and fertiliser costs,
greater global demand, droughts, the loss of rice farmland to biofuel
plantations and price speculation.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday ordered a top level
task force to take on the global crisis caused by rising food prices and
urged key producer nations to end export bans.
Nag said the the problem was more the inability of the poor to buy food
rather than a lack of supply.
"Supply is tight no question about it. Stocks are the lowest in decades but
I think we should be very focused that we need to look at the price issue
which is keeping a lot of people in a very vulnerable range," he said.
Based in Manila, the ADB is owned by its 67 member countries -- 48 from the
Asia-Pacific region, and 19 from elsewhere around the world.
Last year it approved 10.1 billion dollars (6.5 billion euros) in loans, 673
million dollars in grant projects and technical assistance amounting to 243
million.
____
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_231076.html
Frustration, fear and indifference across Asia
April 26, 2008
FAVOURITE FOOD: Asian consumers are affected differently by the increase in
rice prices.
MANILA - FROM the air-conditioned supermarkets of Tokyo to the open-air
stalls of Manila, reactions across Asia to record leaps in the price of rice
vary from fear and frustration to a nonplussed shrug of the shoulders.
Fried, boiled or steamed, rice is synonymous with food in this region but
with wide disparities in national wealth and padi output, Asian consumers
are affected differently by prices of Thai grain hitting US$1,000 (S$1,360)
a tonne.
In the Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh, three of the top four world
rice importers with millions of poor between them, some people are having to
scrimp on already meagre budgets and skip meals to ensure they can still
feed their families a daily helping of the cereal.
'What can I do? Rice prices soar, we have to follow them,' said Mr Rudin, a
28-year-old shopper in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, adding that he was not
in a position to pile up stocks because he had limited income.
Experts say there are signs that the dramatic international price situation
may improve in the months ahead as more harvests hit markets and importers
ease back on purchases.
A near tripling in the world benchmark, Thai 100 per cent B grade wide rice,
was triggered after exporting nations curbed shipments to cool domestic
inflation.
Prices on most local Asian markets have not jumped as much either because
countries are self-sufficient in rice or because importing nations only need
to buy a fraction of national demand and subsidise those purchases to poor
consumers.
But local prices have still risen significantly and while they wait for them
to ease, many Asians have little choice but to tighten their belts or queue
in the tropical heat to buy cheap government stocks of the grain.
'We have to stand in line for up to six hours to grab a bagful of rice.
Often we go back empty handed as supplies run out,' said Ms Mariam Begum,
who works as a house maid in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
'To stand in the queue, I take half-day leave every day from my employers
and have also brought my only son out of school to stand in another queue,'
said the 45-year old mother of four.
With the exception of Bangladesh, where some factory workers went on the
rampage this month, Asian consumers have not taken to the streets to vent
their frustration at the rising cost of food and fuel.
In affluent countries such as South Korea and Singapore, many people are
able and willing to absorb price increases rather than cut back on their
favourite staple.
In Japan, some budget-conscious consumers are even turning to home-grown
rice, which because of various government programmes has a fairly stable
price, in the face of soaring costs for imported grains such as wheat, which
is pushing up the cost of bread, beer and noodles.
'These days, I am using more rice in our meals, along with some fish and
miso soup, because bread and pasta have become too expensive,' said one
Japanese housewife.
In China, a net rice exporter, some people are even unaware that the grain
has hit a record high on world markets.
'I am not going to hoard any rice, prices are very stable here,' said Mr Hu,
an office worker in Beijing.
'Is the international price at a record high? I didn't even know that.'
REUTERS
____
Rice cost more in 'rice bowl' Kedah
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/NewsBreak
/20080501183030/Article/index_html
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