Representatives of ACP countries have called on the EU to aid producer countries in the use of biofuels to ensure food security.

Speakers at the 19th Session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and the EU told MEPs that oil prices spokes could happen with increasing frequency.

Meghan Sapp, secretary general of Partners for Euro-African Green Energy (PANGEA), who gave a presentation named “Fueling Africa’s Food Security” at the event in Tenerife, Spain, said: “When oil prices went up, so did the prices of fertiliser, tractor diesel and transportation.

“Yet when oil prices came down, the high prices for food commodities-which at the time were blamed on biofuels-also came down. The foodstuff whose price had increased the most was rice, which is not used anywhere as a feedstock for biofuel.”

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, over the last 20 years food production has risen steadily at over two per cent a year, while the rate of population growth has dropped to 1.14 per cent a year.

Sapp added: “Several countries are developing policies to ensure that biofuel production is produced sustainably, with a positive impact on their social and natural environments. Mozambique is leading Africa in this regard. Other supranational policies like the Roundtable for Sustainable Biofuels and the Renewable Energy Directive have all placed high priority on ensuring food security in areas where biofuels are produced.

“There are many opportunities to increase food and fuel production simultaneously, thereby increasing energy and food security while counteracting decades-long under-investment in agriculture. Through crop rotation and various forms of intercropping, crops can be grown for both food and fuel, offering farmers diversified markets and opportunities to gain from production of co-products,” she said.

“In order to succeed with biofuels and use them as a tool for development, there needs to be a strengthening of regional markets for both food and fuel with increased access and infrastructure. More investment in agricultural research and extension services to increase productivity/efficiency is needed to counteract the last few decades of neglect.”

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