WASHINGTON (AP): The Bush administration on Wednesday was downplaying the role of biofuels production in rising food prices.

The debate involves questions of blame for rapidly inflating prices for staple crops that have led to famine and riots in many parts of the world.

Some economists and food scientists have argued that biofuel production should be scaled back because it is a major factor in rising food costs, particularly corn.

The IMF recently estimated that biofuels accounted for almost half the increase in consumption of major food crops in 2006-2007.

``Biofuel demand has propelled the prices not only for corn, but also for other grains, meat, poultry, and dairy'' the IMF wrote in a report last month.

Anti-poverty groups and food scientists have called on governments to rethink policies to boost biofuel production at a time that the IMF estimates that global food prices rose by 43 percent in the 12 months ending in March.

But the Bush administration's chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Edward Lazear, told a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Commitee Wednesday that biofuel production has played a only a small part in food inflation.

The United States has mandated increased production of ethanol, mostly from from corn, to reduce oil consumption and dependence on foreign energy sources.