Biofuels: A necessary evil or. . .

Famished bellies are crying from across the globe and the world’s granaries are empty. Still, developed and developing nations are busy converting foodgrains into biofuels to feed their monster automobiles. Here, there is a question of priority for the world to answer. Whose cry for food should be answered first the man or the machine. It seems, if the present indications are anything to go by, nations are turning a deaf ear to the screams of empty stomachs in the world.

Hell-bent on tackling the global warming issues and bust to embrace the so-called development bandwagon, nations are blindly converting food grains like corn into fuel. But, one thing they forget is that you cannot convert thousands of litres of petroleum into a single wheat grain.
If you want to know the story of growing hunger, read on. The great wheat panic of 2007 saw global prices of the grain shoot up by over 92 per cent. Rice and corn prices also rose sharply. Food riots have been reported from Kolkata to Namibia, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Austria, Hungary and Mexico. And the Food and Agricultural Organisation declared that 854 million people go hungry around the world. Things are expected to get worse in 2008.

Global consumption of wheat and rice has outstripped production for the past seven years running, except in 2004-05. Production is growing, but population is growing faster. If production is less than demand, then how do people get enough food? Each year, a certain portion of foodgrains is kept in stock, to be used next year. This is now getting used up for meeting excess demand.

Rediff