Agriculture and Energy

A scenario of threats and opportunities
Among the multiple crises that have afflicted agriculture during recent years, higher and more volatile prices for energy weigh heavily, presenting the poor with a future scenario of both threats and opportunities.

One particularly alarming prospect consists of higher food prices. This is the likely consequence of rising production and marketing costs, driven by higher prices for petroleum-based agrochemicals, like fertilizers and pesticides, and for fuel to operate farm machinery, irrigation pumps, and postharvest processing equipment as well as to transport inputs and produce.

Many farmers will have little choice except to reduce their use of purchased inputs, making it harder to intensify crop production rapidly enough to meet rising demand. On the other hand, rising costs should also act as an incentive for farmers to embrace a more "eco-efficient" agriculture through the adoption of new varieties and management practices that enable them to make better use of energy and other resources.

One especially compelling opportunity for the rural poor comes from the exploitation of novel sources of bioenergy. Cassava, for example, which is grown mainly by poor small-scale farmers, shows great potential as a feedstock for ethanol production, which could provide new markets for this tropical root crop as well as new sources of employment.

Such options must be developed with caution, however. One danger posed by the biofuel industry's rapidly growing demand for basic staples is that this could undermine food security by driving up prices, as undoubtedly happened during the crisis of 2008. Another danger, already evident in some countries, is that rising demand for biofuel feedstocks could heighten pressure on natural resources, including the expansion of production into tropical forests. The resulting carbon emissions could largely offset or even exceed the savings from increased use of biofuels.

The challenge then is to create a more eco-efficient agriculture that can satisfy competing demands for food, feed, and fuel, while creating benefits for rural people, reducing environmental destruction, and helping cope with climate change.