"Nobody understands [why] $11-12bn of subsidies in 2006 and protective tariff policies [should be used to] divert 100m tons of cereals from human consumption, mostly to satisfy a thirst for fuel for vehicles," Diouf, the FAO director general, said. It was a thinly veiled attack. The FAO estimates US subsidies for the production of corn ethanol at $11-12bn.
US subsidies for biofuel production were condemned by the head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization who said they were depriving people of food. Opening a UN food crisis summit in , Jacques Diouf attacked the subsidies for corn ethanol during a wide-ranging critique of global policies on climate change and food security, which he said were slanted to favor the west.
Diouf also asked how a $64bn carbon market could be created in developed countries while "no funds can be found to prevent the annual deforestation of 13m hectares, especially in developing countries, whose tropical forest ecosystems act as carbon sinks for some 190 gigatonnes."
Read more via JULIAN BORGER, GUARDIAN, UK (from prorev.com )
