Biofuels are doing more harm than good, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation said yesterday, in its strongest call yet to review "current policies supporting, subsidising and mandating biofuel production and use".

The FAO said the production of biofuels from agricultural commodities such as corn and soyabean was leading to "continued upward pressure" on the price of food. "While biofuels will offset only a modest share of fossil energy use over the next decade, they will have much bigger impacts on agriculture and food security," it said in its annual report, The State of Food and Agriculture 2008.