Food-fuel conflicts: the Brazil case

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:5901282

Rask, N

Brazil has decided to commit a significant part of its agricultural resources to the production of sugarcane and other crops to be processed into fuel grade alcohol. Concerns are already being raised about potential food-fuel conflicts, especially in the major food-sugarcane producing areas of the state of Sao Paulo and the sugarcane areas of northeast Brazil. The objective of this paper is to explore the dimensions of this emerging food-fuel issue in Brazil. The energy supply and use situation along with a brief description of the alcohol program are presented first. Current land use in relation to food and export crop production is presented next. This is followed by a description of the energy crops to be used for alcohol production. The paper concludes with an investigation of the food-fuel conflicts on a national and regional basis with the identification of some changes in program emphasis that will lessen the impact of the alcohol program on food supplies and prices.

• Research Organization: Ohio State Univ., Columbus (USA). Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology
• OSTI ID: 5901282
• Report Number(s): CONF-810130-2; ON: DE82901959
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
299003 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Unconventional Sources & Power Generation-- Other-- (-1989)
510500 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ALCOHOL FUELS
AVAILABILITY
BRAZIL
CASSAVA
CEREALS
CONSTRAINTS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DISPERSIONS
DOMESTIC SUPPLIES
ECONOMIC IMPACT
FUELS
GASOLINE
GRAMINEAE
GRASS
LAND USE
LATIN AMERICA
LIQUID FUELS
MIXTURES
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PLANTS
PRODUCTION
SOCIAL IMPACT
SORGHUM
SOUTH AMERICA
SUGAR CANE
SYNTHETIC FUELS