On the launch of a new World Bank report  in which the Bank explicitly identifies biofuels as one of the driving forces of land grabs in Africa and acknowledges its detrimental impact on local livelihoods, Friends of the Earth renews its call on rich countries to drop their biofuels targets and invest in planet-friendly farming.

Friends of the Earth's food campaigner Kirtana Chandrasekaran said:

"This World Bank report confirms that high Western demand for biofuels and grain for animal feed is causing land grabbing in Africa - at the expense of local people, who are left hungry and unable to afford inflated food prices.

"Europe has no excuse for inaction - we can feed the world without companies grabbing vast areas of land if rich countries drop their biofuel targets and reduce their demand for factory farmed meat and dairy.

"The UK Government's first steps should be to fund greener transport schemes and support the Sustainable Livestock Bill.

"Replacing imported feed with home-grown alternatives will boost British farming, cut carbon emissions, and protect the world's poorest people from land grabs."

Mariann Bassey, African food and agriculture coordinator for Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria said: added:

"Rural communities and the environment in poor countries are being ignored in the rush for our land and resources.

"This is a problem that has been created by rich nations and is being pursued with relentless speed by overseas companies across the global south. The world has got to say 'stop' to land grabbing!"

The World Bank is backing the practice of nations selling vast agricultural lands to foreign investors, despite evidence that the expansion of industrial farming is trashing rainforests, increasing emissions, and pushing up global food prices.

Last week Friends of the Earth released new research showing that the scale of land grabbing in Africa for biofuel production was underestimated and out of control.

The green campaigning charity highlighted that five million hectares of land - an area the size of Denmark - stretching across 11 African countries, is currently being acquired for biofuels.

Even more land will be required for biofuels if the European Union is to reach its target of obtaining 10 per cent of transport fuels from renewable sources by 2020, it says.