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Bioenergy has recently become the most dynamic sector of the global energy economy. Modern bioenergy technologies are advancing rapidly with much of the interest focusing on liquid biofuels, in particular ethanol and biodiesel. Over the next 15 to 20 years we may see biofuels providing a full 25 per cent of the world's energy needs (UN-Energy, 2007). Bioenergy has a variety of benefits including rural infrastructure development, employment, diversification of biofuel feedstocks, and climate change mitigation. However, the rapid expansion of global biofuel and its potential impact on food security " food shortages or increased food prices, for example " has prompted calls for a close examination of the food security trade-offs of biofuel production, and for an international commitment to ensure that food security, natural resources and sustainability are not impaired.
Bioenergy is energy produced from organic matter or biomass. It can come from biomass that is burned directly, or further processed into solid, liquid or gaseous fuels. These fuels are produced from sugar, starch, vegetable oil, or animal fats, and are used for producing heat or generating power.
The driving forces behind bioenergy development include its ability to compete with petroleum prices, a reduction in global green house gas emissions, and enhanced economic development in rural areas. Sugar cane biofuel in Brazil accounts for 4.2 million jobs, and palm oil in Indonesia is expected to create 2.5 million jobs in the next few years (Cassman and Liska, 2007). On the other hand, the use of food crops for biofuels could lead to an increase in food prices and consequent undernourishment of the poor, particularly in those countries which are net food importers or experience regular food shortages (Cassman and Liska, 2007).
The precise impacts of biofuels on food security are not clear, and the relationship between the two requires further illumination. UN-Energy warns that the current debate over the allocation of biomass production between food crops, food crop feed stock, and biofuel – the 'food-feed-fuel' debate – tends to be overly simplistic and fails to reflect the full complexity of factors that determine food security (UN-Energy, 2007).
There are four dimensions of food security: availability, access, stability, and utilization (FAO, 2007). Further expansion of biofuel production has the potential to affect each of these dimensions at household, national, and global levels. Whether the effects are positive or negative depend on many factors. For instance, whether biofuel development is beneficial or detrimental to the welfare of a household or a country will basically be dependent on whether the household or the country is a net buyer or a net seller of energy services or food products.
The effects of increased bioenergy production have particular bearing on food availability, and access to food. The extent to which biofuel production could threaten the availability of food supplies depends on the extent of land, water, and other productive resources diverted away from food production. Since liquid biofuel and food production are currently substitutes, it is necessary that modern biofuel systems be well designed to augment local food production (FAO, 2007). For example, the inclusion of leguminous nitrogen-fixing crops (either as biofuel feedstock or as food crops) in crop rotations would enhance the overall productivity of the system.
Access to food, especially by low-income consumers, may also be compromised by rises in food prices due to biofuel production. Since price increases have already occurred in major feedstock markets of sugar, maize, rapeseed oil, palm oil, and soybean, the prices for crops are now determined by their value as a feedstock for biofuel rather than their value as human food or livestock feed (Cassman and Liska, 2007). Such price rises threaten the daily dietary intake of the poor. Thus, income gain to producers due to higher commodity prices may be offset by the negative welfare effects on consumers as their economic access to food is compromised. Nevertheless, widely and cheaply available energy services in rural areas resulting from biofuel development would encourage farm and non-farm productivity growth that would positively affect regional growth.
An important consideration in the future development of bioenergy is the planting of fuel feed stock on new areas of unused land to reduce the negative impact on food security.
UN-Energy recommends more research and analysis on the long-term impacts of bioenergy on food security. It suggests the development of an analytical framework based on country typologies and the four dimensions of food security (UN-Energy, 2007). It also recommends more agricultural research, and the enhancement of agricultural productivity and sustainability. This will reduce the tension among food, feed and biofuel production by increasing overall agricultural output in a sustainable manner.
Written by Masdjidin Siregar and Geoff Thompson, Associates, UNESCAP-CAPSA, Bogor, Indonesia.
(References available upon request) |
