Bio energy increases food problem

by: Prem Bindraban - Volkskrant, 10th January 2007

(since this article was published, the European Commission announced plans to introduce a minimum binding target of 10% biofuels in all transport fuels; (Nina Holland, CEO))

It is clear that even with population growth at its maximum, we can feed all the people on earth. But with a rising demand for bio-fuels, global food supplies will be under growing pressure, argues Prem Bindraban

Almost 15 years ago I was commissioned by the WRR (Advisory Council on Government Policy) to calculate whether enough land and sweet water is available to nourish the earth's population. We can indeed, even in the event of maximum population growth. Agriculture must make sensible use of fertilizers and crop protection. Latin America will also need to replenish the food shortage in Asia, where there is not enough land available to feed the growing population.

In these calculations I did not take into account the production of vegetable matter (biomass) for energy-purposes. Energy is a very low-value agricultural application. Plants store less than 1 per cent of the energy of the sun that they receive. This means that enormous amounts of biomass and lots more farmland will be needed for winning energy through plants.
The entire Dutch grassland area of one million hectare, which is a quarter of entire Holland, will only be able to meet less than three per cent of the national energy requirements. All the palm oil produced in the world today would cover just one third of Dutch energy consumption. If we used all farmable land on earth for biomass only, we would cover no more than a quarter of the world's energy requirements.

Biomass is hardly an energetic miracle cure. For Europe it has been decided that 5.75 per cent of the energy used for transport must consist of biomass by 2010. The United States and several developing countries promote the use of biomass for energy. The demand for bio-energy in absolute volume terms is not the only potential problem for food supplies, nature and environment. It is also the speed with which this demand is growing, the rate of expansion which leads to excesses.

This is clearly illustrated by the protein- and oil-rich soy crop. Due to the need for cattle feed, Europe has laid claim to immense agricultural areas in Latin America. Predictably, China’s demand for soy is also increasing rapidly. That is why 30 million more hectares of land have been taken into production for soy crops in the past ten years.

Non-governmental organisations from Europe and Latin America that met this past December in Paris expressed their grave concern about the expansion of soy-cultivation, whereby neither people nor environment are taken into consideration.
This process will only be aggravated by the demand for bio-energy. Large oil-companies in Latin America and beyond will start forming alliances with mega-producers of soy in order to secure their supply of raw materials for bio-energy. Millions are being invested in factories that will yield energy from soy and other crops.

Although biomass can surely contribute to our energy needs, the production of plants for energy will need careful consideration and planning. Apart from land, plants need a lot of water, fertilizer and will need to be protected against diseases and plagues. Adding up all the effort and energy required for the cultivation of crops, it will become clear that it is time for thorough research into the question whether biomass can make any contribution to the energy issue, from reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, to improving our environment at all.

Agriculture plays a key role in this issue. Although the total production of food has risen spectacularly in the past fifty years, the total arable area has hardly grown. We have doubled the yields through better methods of cultivation and improved crops. Without these improved yields we would now need an additional area the size of Argentina and Bolivia combined just to cover our need for wheat. A similar sized area is saved due to the improved yield of rice and corn crops.

Agriculture is the key factor in beating poverty and improving food security. The UN-report on the Millennium Development Goals states that 'almost all successful developments dealing with poverty and food security, have been realised in countries that have experienced a green (meaning agricultural) revolution in an earlier stage'.
It would make more sense to use the billions spent on subsidies for bio-energy on developing agriculture. After all, it will be agriculture that produces the biomass needed for energy. The contribution that biomass can make to producing energy should be determined by the agricultural possibilities and not by an artificially created demand.

The pressure on land and water for food supplies is already enormous. The demand for bio-energy will only make this pressure increase. Almost half of the world's two billion poor people are malnourished.
We would like to avoid the scenario that through careless decisions made in the present, the poor will become the future victims of our hunger for 'green' energy.