Land meant for food crops being used to grow biofuel crops; may push up food prices by 36 per cent by 2020. The European Union’s biofuel production targets are depriving people of food, land and water across the world. Increasing biofuel production is one of the measures taken to reduce fossil fuel emissions and save the environment. But it is resulting in food price inflation and serious cases of land grabs in poor countries, says the recent report, The Hunger Grains, by Oxfam, an international non-profit. The European Union (EU), in 2009, mandated that 10 percent of transport fuel should come from renewable sources by 2020. Beyond Europe, a number of other countries, including India, have also adopted policies to promote biofuel production. The current mandate in India is 5 per cent which will increase to 20 percent by 2017.

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