In his judgment, all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean could use agro-energy as the focal point for creating a large bloc of renewable energy suppliers in the emerging international agro-energy market.

The IEC is a private-sector body co-chaired by Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the Inter-American Development Bank; Jeb Bush, former Governor of the State of Florida; and Roberto Rodrigues, President of the Agribusiness Board of the Federation of Industries of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The Commission was created in 2006 to disseminate information on ethanol, facilitate private investment in bio-fuels, and promote the creation of a hemispheric bio-fuel market. Shortly after it was founded, the IEC invited IICA to be one of its strategic allies. The Institute already has a Hemispheric Program on Agro-energy and Bio-fuels, which assists its Member States in addressing issues related to their collective energy security.

Agro-energy Atlas The document Brathwaite presented, “Agro-energy and Bio-fuels Atlas of the Americas - Ethanol,” was prepared by IICA in response to a request from the IEC in January 2007. It is the first in a series of three studies on the state of and outlook for ethanol, bio-diesel and agro-energy production in the hemisphere.

The Atlas is divided into two parts. The first provides an overview of sugar and ethanol production in the Americas, and the second focuses on the status of agro-energy and bio-fuel production, country by country. All the information in the Atlas was provided by the IICA’s Offices in its Member States.

Data is presented on gasoline consumption in the region, the minimum surface area required to produce ethanol, the regulatory frameworks governing production, the use and management of bio-fuels, the research underway to improve sugarcane and ethanol production, the availability of other crops that could be used in ethanol production, the interest that governments and the private sector have shown in promoting ethanol production and use, and the willingness of national institutions to associate themselves with the Inter-American Ethanol Commission.

Attention is called to the progress made by Brazil, the United States and Colombia. These countries are investing heavily in research and development related to new technologies that could make the use of different sources of energy based on bio-mass and industrial and agricultural waste competitive, and lead to a reassessment and repositioning of renewable sources of energy.

He also referred to the efforts under way in Argentina, Costa Rica, Peru, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Paraguay, Guyana and Jamaica to begin or expand the use and production of ethanol.

Even oil-producing countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador and Mexico are undertaking initiatives aimed at incorporating ethanol into their energy mix.

However, he stated, if agro-energy initiatives are to succeed in the Latin America and the Caribbean countries, some challenges will have to be met. The first is the formulation and application of State policies which place national interests in the area of agro-energy and bio-fuels above sectoral or short-term interests.

In his opinion, it is essential to identify transparent, quantifiable and reliable markets, and to create a commodity futures market and an international bio-fuel market.

He added that innovation and the development of new technologies are two challenges involved in the economically and environmentally sustainable production of bio-fuels.

Some countries will have to decide how much to increase internal production of bio-fuels to replace oil imports, and how they will solve the problems related to competition for the use of land for food and bio-fuel production. In the long term, second-generation bio-fuels may reduce the competition between the production of bio-fuels and food, but intensive research and considerable investment is required.

Lastly, he underscored the need to search for resources and sources of funding. In this effort, governments and international financial institutions must play a key role in helping the new industry to overcome the early barriers to the production and marketing of agro-energy and bio-fuels.