September 13, 2007

"The Agrofuels Trap": excellent overview

In a few short years, an alliance of the world's most economically and politically powerful forces has emerged to promote "biofuels." Who is behind the boom and why?

Laura Carlsen, director of the Americas Program in Mexico City, presents the whats and whys behind the current expansion of fuels from crops like corn and sugar cane... and the winners and losers:

..."Since the beginning of agrofuel production, agribusiness companies including ADM, Cargill, Bunge, and Dreyfus have jumped on the bandwagon. With government subsidies flowing liberally and huge profits to be made across the globe, agrofuels are more attractive now than ever...

"The first casualty of the reorganization of agricultural production is the small farmer. No one would idealize the conditions of peasant farmers in Brazil or in the rest of Latin America. In most countries, rural areas concentrate two-thirds or more of families living in poverty. But agrofuels production offers no real prospects for improving their lot. On the contrary, Brazil's experience shows considerable danger of deterioration for one of society's most vulnerable groups.

James Thorlby of the Pastoral Land Commission in Brazil reports that plantation agrofuel production displaces farmers who then have two choices: they can become plantation laborers or urban slum-dwellers. He notes that in the state of Pernambuco 45,000 families have been displaced by monocrops. Other analysts fear that landless peasants who are unable to find work in plantations will be forced to clear land in natural areas protected for their biodiversity. The concentration of land and distilleries in the hands of rural elite and transnational corporations pushes family farmers out of entire regions.

The new alliance between the U.S. government and its allies in the region to convert Latin America into a source of agrofuels not only benefits transnational corporations and big business; it also helps counteract the growing influence of Venezuela and other countries seeking to break away from U.S. hegemony. The ethanol alliance seeks to consolidate a new power line in Latin America that runs directly between the United States and Brazil, with the dynamic force being the transnational corporations with interests in both countries. If this alliance is consolidated, it will erode the Bolivarian plan to integrate the continent following a model of state-regulated economies and with the support of Venezuelan oil. It would also undermine efforts to strengthen the Southern Common Market..."

Read article at: http://americas.irc-online.org/am/4535
It also has links to other articles and resources on the subject.