Biofuel Craze Fueling Food Crisis, Say Experts

April 29, 2008 -- A "biofuels frenzy" and other misguided policies have led to the global food crisis in which rice consumption is outpacing production, threatening a billion people with malnutrition, experts said Tuesday.

International agriculture researchers warned that farmers will need to double global food production by 2030 to meet rising demand, and said countries should impose a moratorium on grain-based ethanol and biodiesel to rein in skyrocketing prices for corn, rice, soybeans and wheat.

"For the first time, it's been clear that we are consuming more rice than we are producing globally," said Robert Zeigler, head of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute.

"That is eventually unsustainable," he told reporters on a conference call. "We have demand growth that continues unabated, and demand is driven by population (and) economic growth."

Joachim von Braun, director general of the U.S.-based International Food Policy Research Institute, cited "major policy failures" at the core of the crisis, in which recent food price spikes have led to violent riots and threats of starvation in poor nations, and prompted United Nation calls to lift export bans.