Increasing biofuel production a threat to food security

Islamabad, September 25, 2016 (PPI-OT): Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders on Sunday expressed serious concern over increasing trend of using crops to produce fuel and called for a worldwide ban on it as it is against the interests of human population. Using crops to produce fuel in a bid to reduce dependence on fossil fuel is a failed initiative which should be abandoned immediately, said Patron Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders Shahid Rasheed Butt.

He said that ban on biofuel production can save the world from food crisis and improve food security situation while reducing malnutrition and starvation around the world. Agricultural systems are subject to the weather which if become unfriendly can lead to severe grain shocks resulting in food security issues, he added.

Shahid Rasheed Butt said that all the countries especially US should revisit politically attractive policies like reduced dependence on fossil fuel to care for the hungry mouths around the world. He said that suspension of biofuel production, relaxing fuel blending rules and discouraging fresh investments in the production can boost supplies to people and livestock.

He informed that renewable energy production in the US only equivalent of about 40 per cent of total maize production which can be channelled towards food uses. Biofuels account for 12 per cent or nine billion gallons of all automotive fuels sold in the US; every gallon is derived from 12 kg of corn.

Around 350 kg of corn is converted into fuel to fill the tank of a car which is sufficient to feed two persons in any developing country for a year, he said. He said that America is using 33 per cent of the corn production to make fuel which is satisfying 1.3 per cent of its total oil consumption. Many other countries are also perusing biofuels policy at a time when nearly 60 per cent of the world population goes hungry. Policymakers around the world should reconsider encouraging the biofuels which add to suffering of economies, environment, and the world.

For more information, contact:
Jahangir Akhtar
Secretary General
Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders and Small Industry
Office No, 9 Block E, Super Market, Islamabad
Cell: 0344-5111174