Questão 1475554

1 Traditional bioenergy is the dominant source of

energy for about half of the world’s population, and it is used

mainly for cooking. This in itself makes access to bioenergy

4 a right to food issue. Increasingly, though, modern bioenergy

is becoming prominent with a different kind of land-use,

based on cash crops and plantations, and with the use of

7 technologically advanced processing of biomass into liquid

biofuels. Therefore, the term agrofuels might describe the

issue more aptly. In recent years, agrofuels have been seen as

10 part of the solution in combating climate change. They are a

renewable source of energy, and provide new employment

and income opportunities for rural populations. In fact, for

13 the first time in many decades, agricultural commodity prices

are stabilizing at higher levels. In principle, this could benefit

the masses of poor small-scale farmers.

16 At the same time, however, poor and landless

people are consumers themselves, and marginal price

increases may ruin the livelihoods of those who spend up to

19 80 percent of their income on food. Statistical evidence

shows that world caloric consumption typically declines as

prices rise, by a ratio of 1:2. If the trend continues, with

22 every one percent rise in the cost of food, a new 16 million

people would be made food insecure. FAO research shows

that food prices will be increasingly linked to oil prices.

Internet: (adapted). Based on the text above, judge the following items.

In general, the more expensive the price of agricultural commodities, the better for poor small-scale agricultural producers.