Sao Paulo, Nov 18 - Brazil's government plans to restrict the planting of sugar cane in areas used to produce food and prohibit it in the Amazon forest, Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes said on Monday.
"We want to participate in the (ethanol) market abroad and we don't want to have any problems," Stephanes said in reference to the fuel versus food discussion that intensified last year after a rise in grain prices.
Legislation that the government has been drafting for a year will ban cane planting in the environmentally sensitive Amazon forest and the western Pantanal wetlands.
About 90 percent of Brazil's sugarcane is produced in the center-south region, which includes the Pantanal. The main producing areas are about 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) from the Amazon forest.
Under the proposal, the government would also cut back government financing in other areas.
"In areas being used for food production, the government could finance only food," Stephanes told reporters on the sidelines of the International Conference on Biofuels in Sao Paulo.
Stephanes said Brazil has 200 million hectares (495 million acres) of usable land and it would require only 3.5 million hectares to double its current ethanol output of about 20 billion liters per year.
Among the major agriculture producers, Brazil had the largest food export increase over the last decade but was concerned about its environmental image abroad, said Stephanes.
The government delayed the bill's planned announcement this week to discuss details with state and environmental authorities.
"I believe that the plan will be out by the end of the year," Stephanes said, adding that all the work, including 15,000 detailed maps, will be available in the Internet.