From cellulose talk to wood stock

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: The world over, the primacy of agriculture is set to take on more wondrous roles, extending far beyond meeting the functional needs of food, feed and fibre against a backdrop of inexorable deterioration of climate triggered by global warming, tsunamis and Arctic meltdowns. Unchecked spurts in population and the concomitant increased demand for food and other basic necessities, rampant urbanisation that is eating into agricultural heartlands and severely eroding forest reserves, rainforests and swamps, so vital for supporting sustainability, are the major issues at hand. The result is an irrevocable deepening angst between the rich and poor.

Against such a dismal background, great hope is seen in biofuels. The prospects of running automobiles on spent wash from sugarcane used to produce table sugar and of generating electricity from vegetable oils, thus reducing the use of fossil fuels, have sent ripples of excitement across the land. Farmers in poorer nations are jumping with joy at the prospect of alternative uses for their traditional crops, be it maize, sugarcane or oilseed crops, in the hope that industrial uses of farm produce would fetch more earnings, and with more money, they could go back to the market to buy more food. Unfortunately, it has not quite worked out that way. The landmass available for farming remaining stagnant, and with scant technological advances to boost farm production, less land for food farming has led to lower food production, resulting in spiralling costs and overall inflation.

Consider the emerging trends. The nascent biofuel boom has already sent food prices over the loop in several developing countries. In the US, the new surge of demand for maize for ethanol production has sent prices doubling in one year. The price of wheat has soared to its highest level in a decade. Global buffer stocks of both these grains have plummeted to alarming lows unprecedented in the last 25 years. The Mexicans are already adversely affected with their food staple tortilla prices tripling to 15 Pesos ($1.40) to a kilo—a sharp increase in cost, given their meagre average earnings of less than $5 a day.