Push for green biofuels 'has put food prices up by massive 75%'

Demand for 'environmentally friendly' plant-based fuels has led to a slump in global food production and sent grocery bills soaring, according to the damning report from the World Bank.

Mixed blessing: Rapeseed is a major source of biofuels now being blamed for food price hikes

It will come as a major embarrassment to the Government which has committed the UK to using more biofuels to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from petrol and diesel.

Politicians have previously argued that most of the steep rise in food prices in recent months is the result of the spiralling cost of oil.

The Government's own biofuels report  -  commissioned by Transport Minister Ruth Kelly  -  is due out on Monday.

It is expected to say that biofuels have pushed up prices, but by a smaller amount.

Since April, all diesel and petrol sold in the UK has contained 2.5 per cent biofuel. By 2010 the figure will increase to five per cent.

The EU had planned a ten per cent biofuel target for 2020.

However, following growing concerns that plant-derived fuels could be doing more harm than good, MEPs will vote whether to scrap the plan on Monday.

The World Bank report, leaked to the Guardian, is based on the most detailed assessment of the food crisis so far.

Kenneth Richter, of Friends of the Earth, said: 'This report shows that when MEPs vote on biofuels targets next week they will have the fate of millions in their hands.

'Finding enough land to grow ten per cent of Europe's transport fuel will lead to more hunger and suffering as well as doing next to nothing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

'Politicians must act responsibly and change course on this disastrous transport policy.

'MEPs should scrap biofuels targets and instead vote to double the fuel efficiency of new cars by 2020  -  a move that would do far more to reduce our dangerous dependence on fossil fuels.'

Most biofuels are made from food crops such as corn, palm, soya and rapeseed. In the U.S. a third of all corn is used for fuel, while half of Europe's vegetable oil goes towards green fuels.

Critics say biofuels take up land that would otherwise be used for food, reducing supplies and driving up prices.

The grain needed to fill the tank of a 4x4 car could feed one person for a year.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat transport spokesman, said: 'It's time the Government and the EU closed the loopholes that support corn-based U.S. bioethanol over more sustainable biofuels.'