EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL
Food and fuel fight over crops
A long-term strategy is needed, including GMO research, to secure our future as a major food producer

Published on December 15, 2007


Higher oil prices over the past few years have spurred the quest for alternative renewable sources of energy. One of the more attractive alternatives is ethanol, which can be produced from starch and sugar crops. The impact of this worldwide trend has led to growing competition between ethanol and animal-feed producers for the same raw materials, which has steadily driven up crop prices, including maize and soybean, on the world market to record highs. The promotion of ethanol use in the United States and Brazil, which use maize and sugar cane respectively as raw materials, is one of the key factors in the price rises. Another is the explosive economic growth of China and India, which has led to a sharp increase in demand for meat products, which require a huge input of animal feed. Growing world population has also put a strain on the supply of staple crops such as wheat, maize and rice.

While higher crop prices should please farmers everywhere, including in Thailand, the price hikes have led to higher production costs for livestock, poultry, fish and shrimp-farm operators, and thus rising food prices for consumers.

Thailand, as one of the world's major food producers, is now facing a dilemma. As a country that imports virtually all of the petroleum it needs, Thailand is under intense pressure to find sources of renewable energy to reduce its heavy reliance on oil. Ethanol just happens to be one of the most attractive alternatives. Not only can it help the country cut back significantly on oil imports but also on carbon fuel consumption that contributes to global warming and pollution.

The use of gasohol, which is made from a mixture of petrol and ethanol, has grown rapidly in Thailand. By November this year the demand for gasohol had reached 5.8 million litres per day, up from 3.1 million litres in December last year. In Thailand, ethanol is produced mainly from cassava and molasses, which are by-products of sugar production. But animal-feed producers and manufacturers of meat products have already felt the pinch that the rapid expansion of ethanol production has had on world crop prices.

Feed producers are now complaining about skyrocketing prices of maize and soybean, the main ingredients of most animal feeds. This year, prices of crops used as raw materials for animal-food production have risen between 20 and 50 per cent, with maize jumping 50 per cent from last year.

Prices of animal feeds have been raised in line with rising crop prices. But producers expect the prices of animal feeds to go up by about 20 per cent next year. Unless animal-feed producers, the processed food industry and food exporters all increase productivity and find new sources of raw materials, the competitiveness of Thailand's food exports could be compromised.

One of the suggestions in the effort to cut import costs is a proposal to enter into cooperation agreements with neighbouring countries to introduce contract farming of soybean and maize. The idea was broached by large-scale farmers and feed producers, but in order for it to happen there would have to be government-to-government negotiations.

Another idea widely discussed among large farmers and feed producers is the introduction of genetically modified crops to be used for the production of ethanol. But this must go hand in hand with research and development in order to minimise public anxiety about the safety of GM crops. Such a move should be carefully considered by the government, which must see to it that any trial farming of such crops must be conducted under close supervision to prevent cross contamination of GM crops.

Although direct competition between food and ethanol producers for the same crops has not yet happened in Thailand, the government should take precautionary measures by exploring the potential offered by GM crops. Thailand cannot afford to stay out of the fast-changing advances in biotechnology for too long.

Public concern about safety must be addressed by the introduction of laws to put any experimentation with GM crops under stringent control. But opting out of research on genetically modified organisms could put the country's future as a major food producer in jeopardy.

Thr Nation