October 12, 2007 (LPAC)--Two more stark warnings have come out about the dangers "biofuels" pose to the world food supply, in just one day this week. Yesterday, Jean Ziegler, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, called for an international five-year ban on producing biofuels, because using arable land to produce biofuels would result in "massacres." "It's a total disaster for those who are starving," Ziegler said from Geneva, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. "232 kg of corn is needed to make 50 liters of bioethanol. A child could live on that amount of corn for a year." Ziegler plans to submit a resolution to the UN General Assembly on Oct. 25, which would ban the conversion of farmland for the production of biofuels. However, Ziegler punted on the real issue: that the whole alleged "need" for biofuels is a fraud. He proposed a five-year moratorium, to wait until it might be possible to create "second generation" biofuels from waste or non-food plants.

Lyndon LaRouche responded to Ziegler's call by saying that it is probably a good idea to have a "think pause." LaRouche continued that "many people are totally irrational on the issue, so hold off for a while until people become more rational." LaRouche added: "If Gore is for it, that is good enough reason to avoid doing it."

The same day, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) reported that plans by China and India to produce biofuels could worsen already serious water shortages, and threaten food production. "China and India, the world's two largest producers and consumers of many agricultural commodities, already face severe water limitations in agricultural production," the IWMI report states. "Domestic production of biofuels derived from crops will put greater stress on these countries' water supplies, seriously undermining their ability to meet future food and feed demands." The IWMI is based in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

China is reportedly planning to increase biofuel output to 15 billion liters by 2020, and would have to increase maize output by 26% to do that. India's has similar planned targets, which would mean 16% increased raising of sugarcane. Irrigation requirements for both these crops would hit water supplies hard. The IWMI report says that it takes 2,400 liters of irrigation water to produce one liter of ethanol from Chinese maize, and in India, it is worse: 3,500 liters of water are needed to produce one liter of ethanol. Brazil, which grows rain-fed sugar cane, uses 90 liter of irrigation water to produce a liter of ethanol. This translates into an extra 20 gallons of irrigation water per person per day in China, and an extra 18.5 gallons per day in India, beyond what is needed for food.

Study lead author Charlotte de Fraiture, put out a statement saying that "Crop production for biofuels in China and India would likely jeopardize sustainable water use and thus affect irrigated production of food crops, including cereals and vegetables, which would then need to be imported in larger quantities. Are these countries, particularly India, which has devoted so much effort to achieving food security, adequately considering the trade-offs involved, especially the prospect of importing food to free up sufficient water and land for production of biofuel crops?"

Earlier this week, according to AP, the U.S. National Research Council issued a report saying that ethanol crops could threaten water supplies in the United States.