The Committee on Food Security (CFS) has called on governments around
the world to put people’s right to food before short term commercial interests,
especially the biofuel policies.
The Oxfam food and agriculture advisor, Luca Chinotti made this
statement before the opening of the Committee on Food Security's annual meeting
in Rome, today while explaining that governments should ensure that biofuel
policies do not force poor farmers off their land and fuel food price spikes.
NaijaAgroNet
recalls from Chinotti that the CFS meeting is the first United Nation (UN)
forum to discuss the issue of biofuels in depth with the aim to agreeing to
collective action to ensure that policies, operations and investments in
biofuels do not lead to land-grabs and food prices spikes.
It also gathered that the UN's Food and Agricultural Organizations
ministerial meeting is taking place during the CFS that runs from 7 through 11 October
as the meeting is viewed as an opportunity for governments to show leadership
and commitment to phase out support for biofuels that have negative impacts on
people's food security and livelihoods.
It is estimated that by 2020, the European Union's biofuel
policies alone could push up vegetable oil prices by up to 36 percent, maize by
up to 22 percent and sugar by up to 21 percent, while land used to power
European cars with biofuels for one year could produce enough wheat and maize
to feed 127 million people.
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