Global Policy Forum

Picture Credit: veteranstoday.com

Released on the eve of a key meeting of vice ministers of agriculture from the G-20, this working paper urges Mexico, which has the presidency of the G-20, to put biofuels, import dependence and other underlying causes of the food crisis on the agenda. Mexico imports one-third of its corn and the study has found that due to US biofuels policy, the added cost of importing corn in Mexico was between US$1.5bn and US$3.2 bn from 2006-2011.This price increase significantly contributed to rising hunger and food insecurity in Mexico, where the cost of the staple diet, corn tortillas, rose by 60 percent. As chair of the G-20, Mexico has a unique opportunity to take a strong position against bad policies, and should call on other leading economies to curb their biofuels policies.