• woodrow wilson center
  • ecsp

New Security Beat

Subscribe:
  • mail-to
  • Who We Are
  • Topics
    • Population
    • Environment
    • Security
    • Health
    • Development
  • Columns
    • China Environment Forum
    • Choke Point
    • Dot-Mom
    • Navigating the Poles
    • New Security Broadcast
    • Reading Radar
  • Multimedia
    • Water Stories (Podcast Series)
    • Backdraft (Podcast Series)
    • Tracking the Energy Titans (Interactive)
  • Films
    • Water, Conflict, and Peacebuilding (Animated Short)
    • Paving the Way (Ethiopia)
    • Broken Landscape (India)
    • Scaling the Mountain (Nepal)
    • Healthy People, Healthy Environment (Tanzania)
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Contact Us

NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
  • Elisabeth Rosenthal, The New York Times

    As Biofuel Demand Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs

    January 8, 2013 By Wilson Center Staff

    The original version of this article, by Elisabeth Rosenthal, appeared in The New York Times.

    In the tiny tortillerias of this city, people complain ceaselessly about the high price of corn. Just three years ago, one quetzal – about 15 cents – bought eight tortillas; today it buys only four. And eggs have tripled in price because chickens eat corn feed.

    Meanwhile, in rural areas, subsistence farmers struggle to find a place to sow their seeds. On a recent morning, José Antonio Alvarado was harvesting his corn crop on the narrow median of Highway 2 as trucks zoomed by.

    “We’re farming here because there is no other land, and I have to feed my family,” said Mr. Alvarado, pointing to his sons Alejandro and José, who are 4 and 6 but appear to be much younger, a sign of chronic malnutrition.

    Recent laws in the United States and Europe that mandate the increasing use of biofuel in cars have had far-flung ripple effects, economists say, as land once devoted to growing food for humans is now sometimes more profitably used for churning out vehicle fuel.

    In a globalized world, the expansion of the biofuels industry has contributed to spikes in food prices and a shortage of land for food-based agriculture in poor corners of Asia, Africa, and Latin America because the raw material is grown wherever it is cheapest.

    Continue reading in The New York Times.

    Photo Credit: “About to Rain,” courtesy of flickr user rzperllian (Rachel Zurer).

    Topics: Africa, agriculture, Asia, biofuels, development, energy, environment, Europe, food security, foreign policy, gender, land, Latin America, livelihoods, nutrition, poverty, U.S.

Join the Conversation

  • RSS
  • subscribe
  • facebook
  • G+
  • twitter
  • iTunes
  • podomatic
  • youtube
Tweets by NewSecurityBeat

Trending Stories

  • unfccclogo1
  • Pop at COP: Population and Family Planning at the UN Climate Negotiations

Featured Media

Backdraft Podcast

play Backdraft
Podcasts

More »

What You're Saying

  • Ocean Fish Stocks on “Verge of Collapse,” Says IRIN Report Ocean Fish Stocks on “Verge of Collapse,” Says IRIN Report
    M. Brian Palmer: This started in Canada with the constant retorts there was no way the Cod could ever collapse, well...
  • Group,Of,Young,Black,African,Villagers,In,Colourful,Traditional,Dresses Youth Led Social Accountability – Case Studies and Challenges
    Balaji Kartha: What do the young do if they find they were born in a prison and there is no way to get out?!
  • 52117422323_d46e6410d6_k(1) What Will it Take to Actually Eliminate Cervical Cancer?
    Peruth Mwesigwa K Mbaze : Thank you for invitation /Connections
  • woodrow
  • ecsp
  • RSS Feed
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Wilson Center
  • Contact Us
  • Print Friendly Page

© Copyright 2007-2023. Environmental Change and Security Program.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. All rights reserved.

Developed by Vico Rock Media

Environmental Change and Security Program

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center

  • One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
  • 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
  • Washington, DC 20004-3027

T 202-691-4000