July 3rd, 2009

On May 18, the FACT Foundation organized a workshop on "food & fuels". There has been lot of debate recently stating that the production of biofuels threatens food security. Most of this criticism focuses on the large scale production of biofuels in developing countries for export. This workshop focused on the positive role biofuels can play for developing countries and the conditions under which biofuels can best be deployed. 

Major findings were that:

- The effects biofuels have on food security are highly context specific. It was generally excepted that small scale biofuel production for local development poses less of a threat to food security than large scale production for exports. Consequently, many of the sustainability criteria will have to be different for each situation.

- From a technical point of view there is the potential to produce sufficient food and fuels for the world population, considering 10% bio-energy in the world primary energy mix. However political and socio-economical issues are more determinant. When farmers are given the right incentives, they will invest and their production of both food and fuels will increase.

- Multipurpose crops, that can be used both as food and fuel, increase farmers income - and food security since they can be consumed in case of food shortages. Besides, better market prices ensure farmer investments in yield increasing technologies.

The position paper and the presentations of Mr. K. Giller and Mr. I. Togola can be found in our library here on our website.