ABSTRACT
Industrial agricultural methods of production promulgated on the Green Revolution with its narrow focus on yield increases is clearly not the answer to eradicating poverty according to Kwa, and the emerging 'Gene Revolution' methods being integrated into modern industrial agriculture although promising many scientific benefits may not offer much relief to the already serious problems of hunger and poverty faced by many developing countries. Communities have little chance to provide basic services such as education and healthcare which can help lift them out of poverty, unless the naive argument of 'food versus fuel' recedes into the rightful place of irrelevance, and is replaced by the demonstrably more intelligent argument promoting the integration of 'food and energy'. The Brazil case study indicates that a deliberate and focused investment in bioenergy is both possible and plausible, and that developing countries could adopt an integrated system that not only addresses domestic energy-poverty, but creates less dependence on fossil fuels while improving food resources.
