Biofuels Affect Latin
America Food Supply
The United Nations Food
and Agriculture
Organization (FAO)
warned that food supply
in Latin America faces
risks due to the
production of bio fuels
made from agricultural
products.
According to a report by
the UN agency published
in the Honduran press,
Latin America and the
Caribbean are
potentially able to
produce bio fuels but,
at the same time, this
activity affects food
supply for their
populations.
At the same time the
report adds that rapid
technological changes in
Bioenergy do not allow
to plan their impact on
the environment.
This initiative can
cause changes in demand,
foreign trade, supply of
products and, finally,
an increase in prices of
traditional crops
affecting access to the
poorest sectors, it
warns.
According to the FAO it
is of utmost importance
to create a framework
that considers the
diversity of situations
and the specific needs
of the countries of the
region.
The FAO is developing a
methodological guide for
countries interested in
investing in bioenergy
to calculate the effect
of these policies on
their population.
During the 30th Regional
FAO Conference to be
held in Brasilia from
April 14 to 18, 2008,
several economic and
political analysts from
the world will
participate.
The substitution of
ethanol for oil and
bio-diesel promoted by
the United States and
Europe raised
agricultural product
prices in 2007, with
serious consequences for
countries with a limited
economy to fight hunger,
experts warned.
For example, the
increased production of
ethanol shot corn prices
to almost double in a
year.
The executive director
of the United Nations
World Food Program (WFP),
Josette Sheeran referred
to the impact of
biofuels in the rising
costs of food.
These increases were
already affecting WFP
development programs.
"We are aware that we
are confronting a new
kind of challenge," she
told the Financial Times
of Britain in 2007. |
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