“Now that the United States is using 40% of its crop to make biofuel, it is not surprising that tortilla prices have doubled in Guatemala… Just three years ago, one quetzal – about 15 cents – bought eight tortillas; today it buys only four.” This startling development, set out and explored in great detail in the International Herald Tribune on Monday, illustrates one of the main unintended consequences of the huge increases in biofuel incentives, subsidies, mandates and other regulations. I urge readers to take a look at the article.
As regular readers of my blog will know, this is a topic close to my heart. I believe, however, that this message is worth repeating, as some governments and organisations are still in denial. At least partly in order to avoid an unpleasant truth, the re-designed method to estimate the number of people going hungry to bed, no longer captures “the effects of food price and other economic shocks” (Source: FAO, the State of Food Insecurity in the World, Rome, September 2012).
But food prices do matter in the real world of the hungry. As the article states, “the average Guatemalan is now hungrier because of biofuel development,” This is an unacceptable state of affairs and action needs to be taken. I hope readers of this blog agree with me?
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