This briefing paper reviews evidence of the impacts of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on food prices, with a focus on corn and soy, and presents new analysis on the impact of the RFS on U.S. livestock
Rome: World food production must rise by 50% by 2030 to meet increasing demand, UN chief Ban Ki-moon told world leaders on Tuesday at a summit grappling with hunger and civil unrest caused by food price hikes. The secretary-general told the Rome summit that nations must minimize export restrictions and import tariffs during the food price crisis and quickly resolve world trade talks. "The world needs to produce more food,' Ban said.
The use of grain to make ethanol will rise by 31% to 124 million tonne in 2008-09, according to initial projections suggested by the International Grains Council (IGC).
Rich countries came under attack yesterday at the United Nations food summit for their biofuel subsidies and production targets, declining spending on development aid for agriculture and large subsidies to European and US farmers. Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, told heads of state and governments gathered in Rome that "nobody" understood why cereals had been diverted from human consumption "mostly to satisfy a thirst for fuel vehicles".
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has stressed that in the prevailing competition between food and fuel, Sri Lanka was firm in the decision that no land that can be used for food will be used for bio-fuel whatever the commercial attraction may be. Addressing the FAO Conference on food security in Rome yesterday President Rajapaksa said it was the belief of Sri Lanka that food for the people should have the highest priority, and not the running of gas-guzzling vehicles.
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday strongly urged the world leaders to seriously consider setting up of a Global Food Crisis Fund, in order to meet future food crisis. "I strongly commend to the world leaders gathered here to seriously consider the setting up of a Global Food Crisis Fund that will have contributions from all countries and from large business organizations that transcend geographical boundaries, and from financial institutions, arms manufacturers and philanthropists of the world, among others,' the President said addressing the UN Food Summit in Rome.
Biofuel subsidies came under attack on Tuesday at the opening of the United Nations food summit in Rome as the head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation claimed that "nobody" understood the diversion of food to fuel cars. The opening salvo is likely to set the tone for the next three days and put countries such as the US and Brazil, the world's largest biofuel producers, and also the European Union, on the defensive over their support of biofuel production.
A United Nations summit on the global food crisis called on Tuesday for trade barriers to be reduced and food export bans scrapped to help stop the spread of hunger that threatens nearly one billion people. "Nothing is more degrading than hunger, especially when man-made," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Rome summit, where the United States and Brazil defended biofuel production from charges that it pushes up world food prices.
Biofuels can boost incomes and yields for farmers, revitalising impoverished rural areas when they are introduced in countries with secure land ownership, the International Institute for Environment and Development said. By raising the price of crops such as corn and palm oil, biofuels can reduce poverty in countries with a high dependency on agriculture, the London-based researcher said in a report with the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation.
In the search for renewable energy, turning low-value materials like switchgrass and corn husks into ethanol to fuel cars is something of a Holy Grail. In theory, these materials would replace corn as the main feedstock for ethanol in North America, reducing the pressure on farmland that has played a role in rising food prices and put drivers into competition with hungry people. But scientists on the front lines of this search are finding that making the process commercially and environmentally viable is proving much harder than some of the hype would suggest.
UNITED Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will issue an urgent plea to world leaders at a food summit in Rome today to suspend immediately trade restrictions, agricultural taxes and other price controls that have helped fuel the highest food prices in 30 years.
