OCFSS Press Release on Biofuels.

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I received this in my mailbox today - Jagannath.Orissa Coalition for Food Safety & Sovereignty, Bhubaneswar. PRESS

RELEASE DT: 28.07.2007 Sub: The Impact of Orissa Govt's New Policy on Biofuels. On Monday, 27th August, the Government of Orissa has decided to give a boost to the cultivation of fuel crops like Jatropha and

Karanja as a measure to promote plantation for alternative energy. This crop will be cultivated in 20 lakh hectares of "degraded" land. This policy is supposed to create 100 million man days a year. Incentives have been declared for Panchayats, cooperatives, SHGs, farmers and farmer groups to try and lure them away from the cultivation of food crops. While the overall impression being created is that this would be beneficial to the environment, society and the poor, facts reveal otherwise. The word bio-fuel itself is misleading. This fuel should be termed agri-fuel. The cultivation of fuel crops will require the same energy intensive chemical agriculture that has been the bane of the "Green Revolution". We are also apprehensive about the term "degraded land".

Certainly this does not mean uninhabitable wasteland. As per a definition by the Govt of India degraded land is restorable land that has been laid fallow by, among others, mining and industrial activities and faulty agricultural practices. This land can be restored by providing proper inputs and procedures. Can the efforts of individual farmers and farmers groups manage to bring 20 lakh hectares of degraded land under cultivation and then arrange for the extraction of 14,000 kilo litres of oil every year? Will the 42,000 tonne of organic manure that the Government claims will be generated go towards increasing the fertility of the soil or be used in the agri-fuel distilleries? In all probability the entire responsibility will ultimately fall on big stakeholders who are waiting to leap into this high demand, high growth area. For generating the quantum of profit that attracts big business houses, mechanistic agricultural methods, low labour costs and heavy subsidies the kind of which the Government has already promised are essential. There is also the promise of easy loans. Thus the stage seems all set for a plantation oriented form of cultivation that has no respect for the environment and resorts to slave like exploitation of the scant labour it employs. The product too will not enrich us but will cater to the demands of USA and Europe. The only reason why India is targeted for fuel crop cultivation is the availability of cheap labour and the existence of a compliant political machinery. We seem to be harking back to the era of British colonialism. It comes as a surprise that the same State Government that turns a blind eye to the plight of the landless citing the lack of adequate land, now suddenly wakes up to huge volumes of "degraded" land ostensibly for the benefit of the poor farmers and the unemployed. However it will not be a surprise if people are deprived of their home land, farmers of their livelihood, and the consumers of their food in an effort to garner the 20 lakh hectares that the Government talks about. We should consider this in the background of the increase in demand for land for the non agricultural purposes of SEZs, industries, mines, dams, bridges, railways, highways and other such development projects that suits business houses, cotton cultivation under contract farming, land for horticulture and floriculture, and real estate development, a demand that is forcing the Government to go against the basic constitutional rights of its own people and its own promises and declared policies.

BOX Forest land diverted *The per capita availability of cultivated land was 0.39ha in 1950-51 and has declined to 0.14ha during 2004-05.(Economic Survey, Govt of Orissa 2006-07) Forest land Year Total Forest Area in Orissa Diverted to non forest

use Present forest area 1982 5,996 ,000 ha Till 1999

24124.20ha 2000-01 1219.06ha 2001-02 1711.74ha 2002-03 508.18ha 2003-04 1493.71ha 2004-05 1274.39ha 2005-06 2153.685ha Total 28, 044.965ha 5,967, 955.335 ha As per Govt Record 58, 136.23sq km = 5,813,623 ha Similarly as per States Economy in Figures, Orissa 2006, agricultural land put to non agricultural use in 2004-05 is 999,000 hectares. However the authenticity of this figure is doubted as it has remained constant since the last five years in Government records. -------- The experience worldwide with agri-fuels has been one of unmitigated horror . The agri-fuels are not energy saving as claimed; rather they consume more energy in the process than the energy they are supposed to save. The demand for fuel crop is making the prices of food crop shoot up. Agricultural land is being converted for non food crop. The process of chemical intensive and mechanical agriculture is adding to the global warming. Chemical fertilisers are releasing Nitrous Oxide into the atmosphere.

The degraded soil is losing the ability to retain carbon. The ethanol-fuel mix is releasing harmful and cancer causing toxins like formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and unhealthy organic compounds like PM10, Sox, Nox, and also Ozone. Worse, the energy required for processing the fuel crop into fuel mixes is leading to an increase in consumption of fossil fuels thus increasing fuel prices as well. Ethanol itself is not a substitute for fuel but is an additive which seeks to reduce the use of fuel. Being corrosive in nature the whole vehicle has to be remodelled at an extra cost to make it agri-fuel compliant, thus making the exercise more expensive in the process. The rise in price of fuel is today paralleled by a rise in price of food. It is the developing countries who will suffer the most from this dual calamity as they face the spectre of depleting food reserves, costly food imports, and inability to ensure food security in the face of adverse situations like draught and famines. The population will face poverty, starvation and malnutrition as a result of such short sighted and skewed policies. The large farms currently engaged in fuel crop cultivation in South Asian and African countries are employing as less as one employee per acre, thus shattering

the myth of employment generation. In Brazil where a large volume of land is under fuel crop cultivation workers employed in farms are being treated as slaves. There is no doubt that our State too will face a similar situation. While now there are mass migrations to work as bonded labourers outside the State, the future will ensure the same fate within. The people rendered landlost as a result of the new agri-fuel policy will meet a fate worse than that of industrial oustees as the bogey of global warming that fuel crops ostensibly seek to prevent will shut the mouth of critics and activists and make them non sympathetic to their plight. Large scale deforestation, filling up of peats, besides adding to the carbon dioxide in

the air, will lead to more fierce flooding, cause more instances of man animal conflict, displace tribals from their homes, and by its ecological impact will lead to desertification. Yet another impact will be on groundwater levels. Deforestation will destroy the capacity of the soil to absorb water. The system of agriculture used to cultivate fuel crops will be a tremendous strain on the water level. Many cash crops are water intensive making the whole system more water exploitative. By converting food from humans to cars whose cause are we promoting? Do the poor drive cars? The policy to promote agri-fuels is not based with the interest of the poor in the mind. The companies engaged in agricultural commodity production will be

able to expand their business and profits. Biotechnology companies can gain from devising and introducing various types of genetically engineered plants that will produce more fuel and less waste, petroleum companies will encourage agri-fuels as they can gain both from the new trend and also from the increased prices of fossil fuels, fertiliser, pesticide, herbicide companies will laugh all their way to the bank, car companies will be happy as their new "bio-friendly" cars will sell like hot cakes, thanks to subsidies and lax regulations. The promotion of agri-fuels is a blatant attempt by business conglomerates to take over the world's farming. It is the rich and their extravagant lifestyle that will stand to benefit from the entire exercise. While the need

of the hour is to curtail wasteful expenditure of energy, save energy, give more preference to local rather than international markets to save on unnecessary energy loss in transport, improve the quality of soil, revert to nature friendly organic methods of agriculture, increase the area under forest cover, improve the lot of the poor who can manage with miniscule portion of the world's energy needs, encourage public transport, the use of wind energy, solar power, forest, agriculture and animal waste to meet energy needs; the biofuel policy will only allow the world to continue with a lifestyle and consumption pattern that is decidedly harmful for this planet. Those who advocate the cultivation of carbon heavy fuel crops like Jatropha and Karanja should heed the warning of Indian Government's Energy Adviser S P Sethi who says, "Even if 60

million (and not 14 million as planned) hectares of land is devoted to Jatropha cultivation for the next 25 years, only 29% to 35% of our future energy needs may be met. Annual biodiesel yields from Jatropha ranges from only 0.3 ton to 1.0 ton per hectare. And this is without taking into consideration the energy needs of intensive agriculture, and the subsidy costs that the Government will have to bear." The new biofuel policy is thus another hurdle before the peace loving population of this State, most of who are happy with what they earn from their hard labour upon whatever land that is in their disposal. Instead of offering 20 lakh hectare of land to the greedy and exploitative business sharks the Government will do a world of good by distributing it among the many landless in the State of Orissa under the

"Mo jami, mo gharadiha" policy newly announced by the Government . The subsidy, easy loans and incentives could be given to increase the fertility of the land and resort to multi crop farming. This will solve the problems of poverty, unemployment and generate food security for the impoverished population. Otherwise Orissa will soon turn into a food importing State. We do not require fuel for cars; we need food for the hungry. Yours faithfully, OCFSS, Bhubaneswar."In conclusion, vaccines are a

perfect manifestation of everything that is satanic. They represent an adulterous and arrogant tampering with divine creation, based on the intellectual conceit of "perfecting" creation. They are poisonous, containing derivatives from metals such as mercury and aluminum, and from formaldehyde. They are made from the cell lines and viruses of biblically unclean animals such as monkeys, cats, etc. Worst of all, they are made from the cell lines of premeditatedly murdered children. " Bob Sperlazzo Christian Digest 11/29/2002

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