Rejecting allegations that biofuels are responsible for the recent rise in global food prices, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said food had become more expensive because people in developing countries were gaining greater access to it.

Speaking at a Food and Agriculture Organisation conference in Brasilia, he said it was easy for someone sitting in Switzerland to preach to Brazil, referring to Swiss national Jean Ziegler, the UN's Special Rapporteur for Food Rights, who had described biofuel production as a crime against humanity.

Opinion against cultivation for bio-fuels, once hailed as an eco-friendly and less expensive option to fossil fuels, has been gathering pace globally in recent months as expert bodies have sought to link a potential food scarcity to rising cultivation for bio-fuel production.

Leaders of some of the world's largest oil producing countries have voiced their disapproval over the use of biofuels, while an asortment of environmental groups, governments and agriculture expert have expressed concerns over the diversion of cultivable land for producing crops like sugar-cane and corn to make fuel for cars that could lead to a serious food shortage. 

President Lula said that allegations of global food prices rising because of biofuels cultivation were were baseless, and on the contrary, biofuels ''can pull countries out of energy dependency without affecting foods."

He said food prices were going up because people in developing countries like China, India and Brazil itself were eating more as their economic conditions improved.

Brazil, the world's largest exporter of biofuels such as ethanol, has several cooperation agreements  to work together to improve production with several African nations and the US, another leading biofuels producer.

The battle against biofuels has united a dichotomous group ranging from environmental activists to the leaders of some of the world's largest oil producing countries.