The new chief of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization has come forward in defense of biofuels in a reversal of the UN’s views which has earlier been blaming the biofuels for their role in hike of food prices. José Graziano da Silva of Brazil, the new Director General of FAO has made statements in support of his country’s biofuel industry.

He has defended the industry despite the fact that about one fifth of the world’s sugarcane is used in producing biofuels and most of it is done in Brazil itself.

The recent rise in the prices of raw sugar in the world market is partly due to the consumptions of sugarcane in biofuel production.

Falling in the line with the former president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, he asserted that there were “good biofuels and bad biofuels, as there is good cholesterol and bad cholesterol”. Brazil had been critical to the biofuel industry of the US. US is also a major contributor to biofuel production.

“Biofuels are not a silver bullet [for energy]. Nor do I think they should be demonised [for their role in agricultural commodities],” the new FAO director general said in Rome Monday.

The phenomenon of biofuel production in recent years has greatly contributed to the rise in the prices in the world market and has rightly been criticized by the FAO and other international organizations. The countries with little populations or sufficient food production or their capability to import food employ the food in fuel production; whereas the world population especially in African, Asian and South American countries suffers from malnutrition and starvation.

The Ministers of agriculture of the G20countries had said in a recent meeting that, “production will exert considerable upward pressure on prices in the future”. OECD has also been critical to the biofuel production.

“As long as governments impose mandates – obligations to blend fixed proportions of biofuels with fossil fuels, or binding targets for shares of biofuels in energy use – biofuel production will aggravate the price inelasticity of demand that contributes to volatility in agricultural prices,” was stated in the report of the G20 meet.

Mr Graziano da Silva doesn’t agree. He holds that the high prices are a temporary phase, not relating it with the biofuels. “High prices will remain not only a few years. This is not only a temporary imbalance,” he said, saying the FAO needs to help food importer countries instead.

US uses corn for the production of biofuels and the prices of corn are at about $8 per bushel –an all-time high. Brazil has raised the issue of biofuels and US has in recently supported the Brazil’s bid for permanent seat in the Security Council of the UN.

The implications of the views of the new FAO chief are not favorable for at least the poor countries which have in recent past seen the situation of panic when the prices of food had gone on the peak. There were food riots and much more. It was this food price hike that led to speculations by the west such as one by the US authorities who blamed the Indian and the Chinese people for the price hikes as ‘they started eating more’.

The reference to the biofuels by the new chief has come in the wake of rising ambitions of his country in recent years. Brazil has been in recent years one of the fastest growing economies after China.

Brazil has been in the queue to get a permanent seat in UN Security Council. The country was also one with its candidate for the high profile posts of the IMF and the World Bank.