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In Asia, as elsewhere in the world, countries rushed to promote biofuels during the dramatic oil price increases of 2007–2008 as a way to enhance energy security, without waiting for the settlement of controversial debates about the environmental effects of biofuels, especially their effects on greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, biodiversity, and whether biofuels cause a conflict between food and fuel. This paper does not settle this debate, but instead argues that there are straightforward, practical and feasible measures that can be implemented immediately in order to reduce the pressure of biofuels on the environment and food supply, and more generally increase food production. The key is to focus on increasing resource use efficiency in agriculture, especially on different forms of energy use. Resource use efficiency in agriculture is low in many parts of Asia. Concrete measures that could be taken include …