Bio Fuel

Over the past few years, the world has been witness to the increasing problem of food shortages.One
argument is that in our thirst for environmentally friendly fuels by using bio fuels, we are contributing to the
increasing food prices as more and more farmers are keen to grow crops like corn to make ehanol to be
used as fuel instead of food.As an off shoot of this, the prices of other crops are also increasing. In a way
agricultural production is diverted away from food crops often leading to mass starvation in poor and
under developed countries.
As energy crop programmes often compete with food crops in terms of investments, infrastructure, skilled
labour etc,food shortages and price increases in food crops follow automatically.But even the food
shortages in the world have to be looked at more objectively. Use of bio fuels alone is not the reason for
world food shortages.It should be seen against the backdrop of the region or country's real situation
concerning food supply and demand.More often than not, the agricultural production potential of a certain
region is under utilized or food crops are used as animal feed. All these factors contribute to the food
shortages.
In order to meet the increasing food and fuel needs,the need of the hour is to adopt modern agricultural
practices and come up with efficient methods to utilise available land and other resources.Also potential
of marginal land to grow fuel crops should be made use of.
Though arguments abound that increased use of bioenergy in the developed countries is responsible for
starvation in poor and under developed countries, much thought is not being given to the huge amounts
of bio-mass wasted in various ways in developed countries. Bio-mass in the form of agricultural and
forestry residues,by products of commercial food processing and vast amounts of waste cooking oil
dumped in land fills and sewers has to be treated properly and made use of for a cleaner environment.
In the US, the main fuel crops are corn (maize), for ethanol, and soybeans producing soy oil for biodiesel.
These are the crops which allegedly should not be diverted from food crops to fuel crops to reduce
malnutrition and starvation. The contention that people the world over are starving because of ethanol
production from food crops is not true.Starvation is because people are vitims of an in equitable economic
system.Among the 4.4 billion people who live in developing countries:
Three fifths have no access to basic sanitation Almost One third are without safe drinking water One
quarter lack adequate housing One fifthlive beyond reach of modern health services One fifth are
undernourished The 3 richest people in the world own assets that exceed the combined gross national
product of all least developed countries and their 600 million people.
There are many different fuel crops which can be grown using sustainable methods which conserve or
even improve the environment giving higher yields. With most biofuels you remove the energy and are
still left with the food which can be used as feed for livestock. With ethanol the feed value is enhanced:
the distillers dried grains by-product is more nutritious than the original unprocessed grain because of the
yeast. With biodiesel, the oil seed cake is left after the oil has been pressed out which is usually a highly
nutritious, high-protein livestock feed.
As for poor countries, local production of biofuels from locally grown crops,can cut dependence and cash
expenditure on imported fuels, increase community self-reliance, and provide opportunities for local job
creation and growth. It can also cut dependence on fuel wood, which is often scarce and causes immense
health problems through indoor air-pollution.All this shows that growing biofuels crops can encourage
food-crop production rather than reducing it or causing food shortages.
Sowmya