Brazil's Lula defends biofuels from growing criticism

By Raymond Colitt

BRASILIA (Reuters) - President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defended Brazil's production of biofuels on Wednesday, rejecting criticism that they are furthering a surge in global food prices and harming the environment.

"Don't tell me, for the love of God, that food is expensive because of biodiesel. Food is expensive because the world wasn't prepared to see millions of Chinese, Indians, Africans, Brazilians and Latin Americans eat," Lula told reporters.

"We want to discuss this not with passion but rationality and not from the European point of view."

His comments follow a week of protests in Brazil and Europe against fuels derived from food crops and their supposed environmental and social benefits.

The growing criticism has placed Brazil at the center of the global biofuels debate. The country has enjoyed an agricultural export boom, which has seen it become the world's largest exporter of ethanol -- derived from sugar cane.

Critics say the increased production of crops for ethanol and biodiesel, which is derived from oil seeds, competes with for land with food crops.

In Brazil, they say it is also pushing cattle ranchers and farmers further north and contributing to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.

Competitors and critics have tried to link several leading Brazilian farm exports, from beef to soybeans, with environmental destruction and poor working conditions.