As Fidel Castro exits, Cuba eyes 3.2 billion gallons per year of sugar cane ethanol

In Cuba, the potential to produce between 2 billion and 3.2 billion gallons per year of sugar cane ethanol has been projected by industry analysts. Cuba is transitioning from the 49-year rule by Fidel Castro to the leadership of biofuels supporter Raul Castro. Fidel Castro blocked a proposed expansion into Cuba by Archer Daniels Midland in the 1990s. Cuba recently began overhaul of its 17 ethanol refineries last year.

Ironically, it was anti-biofuels rhetoric from Fidel Castro that first began the wave of llinks between biofuels and global hunger.

The call was then taken up by overseas publications such as Oil World.

Castro’s link between global hunger and biofuels then began to make it into the US press when Znet published “Maize of deception: How corn-based ethanol can lead to starvation and environmental disaster“, and stating that “when Fidel Castro writes that using corn, or any other food source, could result in the premature death of upwards of three billion people….it would be foolhardy for the US to ignore his foreboding message on the subject.”

Castro received initial support from close ally Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, but Chavez subsequently introduced an  E7 national ethanol target. Chavez said that his government is not against the use of ethanol or the use of foodstocks to produce it, and refined his position to oppose the use of corn for ethanol production.
Chavez said that for each acre planted to grow sugarcane for biofuels, his government would plant two acres for food production, which would require 36 million acres of land to be converted to food production, based on 780,000 barrel a day of oil consumption as reported in the New York Times. This is equivalent to an area the size of the entire state of Iowa.

Land conversions that have resulted in 6.5 billion gallons of ethanol production, or 15 million acres of land-use conversion, were the subject of articles in Science magazine and have prompted anti biofuels articles in more than 30 major US print and online media.
This week, an editorial by David Ridenour of the National Center for Public Policy Research, linking biofuels to higher retail food prices in the US, and “chronic hunger, malnutrition and starvation” in the poverty-stricken nations of Africa and Southeast Asia, has been widely syndicated in the United States.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Cuban ethanol production may be limited to bagasse while Fidel Castro lives; financing unclear for shift in stance from Havana

In Cuba, analysts say that Cuban ethanol production will be limited to production from sugar by-product that does not affect the food sugar output. A Reuters report, quoting local sources, said it ...

Cuba scales back ethanol expansion in light of Castro campaign against US ethanol; Cuban output to increase by 100 percent, down from 500 percent

In Cuba, the director of the Sugar Cane Derivatives Research Institute said that the country will reduce ethanol production forecasts. The director confirmed that the country would double its producti...

Today in Biofuels: 13 US news papers link biofuels to “chronic hunger, malnutrition and starvation; Cuba turns to biofuels as anti-biofuels Castro exits; ex-Cuban leader led global effort to link biofuels to hunger

Top Story:Anti-biofuels sentiment continues to gain traction in the wake of two articles published in Science magazine questioning the emissions benefits of ethanol. An editorial by David Ridenour of ...

10 Stories We Probably Should Have Read: a Biofuels Digest aniversary special report

#1. An article on Cuban plans for a massive ethanol expansion in February didn't attract much attention, but it helped explain that Cuban support for Jean "Biofuels are a crime against humanity" Ziegl...

Brazil sugar cane harvest up sharply, sugar production down as ethanol effect is felt

Bloomberg reports that Brazil's sugar output is expected to decline this year despite record sugar cane harvests, as Brazil diverts more sugar to fuel production. Total harvest is projected at 547.2 m...

Brazilian ethanol production to increase 23 percent in 2008

In Brazil, ethanol production is expected to grow 19 percent this year to 7.238 billion gallons, with a potential increase in exports of 23 percent to 1.1 billion gallons, according to the Brazilian a...