Food security and biofuel production: solving the dilemma on the example of Ukraine

Abstract

: Today, ensuring energy security is becoming increasingly important. It has been proven that agricultural crops are currently the dominant feedstock for the production of biofuels and first-ge neration biofuels dominate both in Ukraine and around the world and can potentially pose a threat to food security. The research aims to analyze the state of food security in Ukraine in order to esti-mate the economic basis for the use of surplus food crops for biofuel production for substantiating the required areas for growing energy crops in the volumes that could ensure balance between the food and energy use of crops. An analysis of food security of Ukraine showed that the agricultural sector provides the population with most of the necessary food products, but it is advisable to mo-dernize the food supply standards. It has been proven that crops that can be used for the production of first-generation biofuels in Ukraine are produced in sufficient quantities to ensure food security, and they are exported without compromising the food security of the state and export potential. As calculated, Ukraine can use about 11–12 million hectares of arable land for growing energy crops with their subsequent processing into biofuels. It has been proven that in the future in Ukraine, it is recommended to develop the production of biofuels (biogas and solid biofuels) from crop and livestock waste, as well as organic waste from processing enterprises. This would not pose a threat to food security and would address a number of environmental issues related to waste disposal. Today, under the condition of war in Ukraine, food security and energy independence are priority issues and energy diversity, including the production and consumption of biofuels, is a top factor for further development.