Biofuels pose a moral problem and the worst of rioting prompted by soaring food costs may be yet to come, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund, said on Friday.
"When we make biofuels from agricultural products not used for food, that is fine. But when they are made from food products, this poses a major moral problem," Strauss-Kahn told Europe 1 radio station on Friday.
Asked if he would support a possible moratarium on biofuels, Strauss-Kahn said: "When they use foodstuffs."
Countries needed to strike a balance between addressing environmental problems and the need to ensure people did not perish from hunger, he said, saying protests sparked by rising food costs around the globe could worsen.
"In terms of food-related riots, the worst is unfortunately possibly in front of us," he said. "Hundreds of thousands of people are going to be affected."
Food shortages and sky-rocketing costs have set off rioting and protests in countries including Haiti, Cameroon, Niger and Indonesia and deeper questioning of first-generation biofuels made from food crops.
Turning to the question of aid, he said it was crucial to mobilize resources rapidly to help affected countries.
The World Food Program could help in the short-term, but could not be relied on given cash earmarked for food imports would not change the quantity of wheat available, he said.
"What is needed therefore is to raise agricultural production," he said.
Issue on UN agenda
The rising cost of providing food aid to poor countries will top the agenda when UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets UN agency heads in Switzerland later this month, a spokeswoman said on Friday.
Ban will host a semi-annual meeting of UN agency heads in the Swiss capital of Berne on April 28-29, UN spokeswoman Marie Heuze said.
"The main subjects on the agenda will be the food crisis and climate change. They will look at means of coordination," Heuze said.
Josette Sheeran, who heads the UN's World Food Program, and Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, will be among the participants at the closed-door talks in Berne.
(Agencies via China Daily April 19, 2008)
