[Marxism] CHINA: Food First, Not Fuel By Antoaneta Bezlova

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

CHINA: Food First, Not Fuel By Antoaneta Bezlova

The last big famine China experienced -- arguably the greatest in
human history -- during the disastrous Great Leap Forward experiment
with communist industrialisation in late 1950s, killed up to 30
million people. Since then, ensuring food sufficiency for the
country's population of 1.3 billion has been regarded by Chinese
leaders as a matter of national security.

Current hikes in grain and pork prices are blamed on the same culprit
-- the ethanol industry, whose explosive growth has been gobbling up
a growing share of China's corn harvest traditionally preserved for
food and animal feed.

Having promoted the production of the environmentally-friendly
gasoline additive for years, Chinese economic planners now fear the
sector has grown too much and too quickly, presenting them with an
uncomfortable dilemma of choosing between the country's green agenda
and its national food security.
--------------------------------------------
Chinese planners are still worried that fast-shrinking farming land
could affect grain supply in the near future. Arable land is said to
have shrunk by 8 million hectares between 1999 and 2005.

"The country will not approve new projects of food-based ethanol,"
Xiong told a development forum in Beijing last week. "The current
four (state) plants engaged in making ethanol from corn are urged to
switch to new sources".

This however might not see the end of corn-based ethanol production
in the country. Chinese press reports say domestic corn processors
are rapidly expanding their capacities to resume ethanol production
when the government relaxes its stance. (END/2007)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38186


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