A Big Mess?

Paint a scenario with a human population of 6.4 billion—with nearly 854 million men, women and children chronically hungry—where, in all, over 2 billion people lack food security—we have a problem.

The Food and Agriculture Organization has released “The State of Food and Agriculture 2008”. The report “ . . [e]xplores the implications of the recent rapid growth in production of biofuels based on agricultural commodities. The boom in liquid biofuels has been largely driven by policies in developed countries in support of climate-change mitigation, energy security and agricultural development. The growing demand for agricultural commodities for the production of biofuels is having significant repercussions on agricultural markets, and concerns are mounting over their negative impact on the food security of millions of people across the world. At the same time, the environmental impacts of biofuels are also coming under closer scrutiny. But biofuels also offer the opportunity for agricultural and rural development—if appropriate policies and investments are put in place.

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