UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food says biofuels will lead to “massive hunger”, calls for “five year moratorium” on sugarcane ethanol

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, said that “transformation of agricultural land for the production of bio-fuels in America” is a “huge problem. This had resulted in the rise of the price of corn, especially in Mexico. This would lead to massive hunger in the world.”

He added that “bio-fuels had to be produced in some other way,” and added that in Europe the emerging agro-fuels were also deadly for countries where food production was declining.”

He spoke also about the situation in Brazil, stating that “the scale of sugar cane plantations was spreading to the detriment of domestic agriculture in Brazil. The landless peasants in Brazil had campaigned against bio-fuels – all 6 million of them.”

Ziegler is author of a draft report calling for a five-year moratorium on ethanol production produced from sugar cane that is expected to be debated in the UN General Assembly and cause Brazil considerable embarrassment. Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba are supporting the report.

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