British Government Urges Biofuel Rethink

News from the Guardian (here) that Chancellor Alistair Darling is calling for an urgent review of Europe and America's use of biofuels is a welcome piece of news for those who have been concerned about the potential environmental and social harm caused by a rush to ethanol - despite its apparent "green" credentials.

The Chancellor's call - ahead of the G7 summit in June - comes amid growing international awareness of the link between, on the one hand, the increase in greenhouse gases caused by clearing land to grow crops for ethanol and, on the other, the effect on world food prices of a shift in agricultural production from traditional foodstuffs to "ethanol crops".

A previous post on this site highlighted the problems facing a number of Asian countries as the cost of rice has soared this year. Meanwhile, the increased costs of wheat, soya and other staples is triggering unrest in several African and Asian countries, with demonstrations and riots in Bangladesh, Egypt and Indonesia as well as violent protests in Ivory Coast, Senegal and Cameroon over recent weeks.

Darling is quoted in the Guardian as saying, 'If the developed world is serious about meeting the millennium development goals - and we are currently way off track - we have got to do something about rising food prices."

Tony Juniper, meanwhile, director of Friends of the Earth, has called to an immediate halt to grain-based biofuel production because the unintended consequences have become so damaging. "Policymakers have inadvertently created a competition between the drivers of big vehicles and people who do not have enough food to eat," he said.

More provocatively, a quote from David Strahans in his The Last Oil Shock: the rush to diodiesel could leave us "starving to death in a traffic jam."

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Drought in China

Northern China has experienced its lowest rainfall for 57 years - only 6.2 mm since January.

The worst hit area is Heilongiiang Province in the north east - China's largest supplier of corn, rice, soybean and wheat.

Keep on eye on this story.

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Rice - a Staple of Social Upheaval?

Rice may be emerging as the trigger for widespread social unrest across Asia.

As demand surges, prices have doubled in the last five years and reserve stocks have fallen to their lowest levels for thirty years.

In response to this trend, a number of Asian countries have imposed export bans on their own supplies of rice, a move likely to further raise prices in the rice-importing countries.

Recent developments include:

• protests in Indonesia's capital Jakata over the rising cost of rice

• an export ban on Cambodia's rice supply
  

• a 22% reduction in rice exports from Vietnam

• an increased export tax on rice from India - from $500 to $650 per tonne

Meanwhile, the government of the Philippines (the world's largest rice importer) has also asked Vietnam recently to guarantee its own supply of rice among concerns about the former's ability to feed its population, which now stands at nearly 90 million.

The Philippine government has been widely criticized for not ensuring sufficient home-grown supplies of rice over the years as consumers now face major price rises on this staple product.

Meanwhile, China, the world's biggest rice producer, has announced plans to increase the subsidy paid to rice (and wheat) framers in an attempt to boost production and stabilize prices. China's rice crop is almost entirely used in its domestic market.






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