Biofuels shift seen to put major squeeze on food prices

MANILA (AFP) – A global shift toward renewable energy could jack up food prices by up to 80 percent as crops and farmland are diverted to producing biofuels, an international agricultural think-tank warned Thursday.

Joachim von Braun, director-general of the International Food Policy Research Institute, said further crop yield improvements and increased efficiency of these alternative fuels were required if a global price shock were to be avoided.


Unless governments invest to improve farm productivity “so that we can cope with the increased demand for biofuels, the (food) prices may come up between 40 and 80 percent on top of what you can see,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an agriculture and poverty conference here.

“If it’s well managed and we have more investment in research and technology to bring up yield levels in the crops and improve the efficiency of biofuels, these price effects may only be between five and 15 percent. So it depends on government policy,” he added.

AFP