Let ‘em eat biodiesel, Brazil says sugarcane is fuel

While the world has a war of words over whether food should be used for fuel or feeding people, Brazil – the country which relies on biofuel – said the case is closed as far as it's concerned. Food is for fuel. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva insisted that the biofuel-versus-food debate was a function of increasing demand and poverty alleviation in developing countries - and not the result of competition for farmland by biofuel crops, as argued by some critics. "Don't come tell me that (food) is expensive because of biodiesel," he said. "It is expensive because the world was not ready to see millions of Chinese eat, millions of Indians, Brazilians and Latin Americans eat three times a day," Lula said in a speech before the opening session of the 30th Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO.) "Instead of crying," Lula said, the world should "produce more food."

The use of biofuels has been seen by some advocates as a way to reduce reliance on oil and to cut greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change and global warming. Lula was defending the production of biofuels against charges that a rapid increase in production has competed with production of foodstuffs, resulting in soaring food prices. Instead, he blamed the price increases on the alleviation of poverty and the growing ability of the world's poor to buy food. Lula said he was willing to travel the world in defence of biofuels. Without explicitly mentioning the UN official, Lula referred to recent remarks by UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Jean Ziegler, and complained that "it is very easy for someone who is sitting in Switzerland to express his opinion on Brazil or on Africa." In an interview with the French daily Liberation, Ziegler expressed great worry about the crisis triggered by the spiraling increase in the price of basic foodstuffs like rice and wheat.

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