Jonathan Allotey, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has said that though biofuels pose less threat to climate change, their possible impact on global food security need to be assessed.
He said the production of biofuels had grown in the past few years due to the threat of climate change which was associated mainly with green house gases resulting from the use of fossil fuels.
Addressing the opening session of a Regional Workshop on sustainable production and use of biofuels, however, had its downside since large tracts of land had been put to cultivation of energy crops instead of food, especially in developing countries.
The three-day workshop, which is under the auspices of the EPA and the united National Environmental Programme Secretariat on the Convention of Biological Diversity (UNEP-SCBD), is to create a platform for participants in the sub-region to address potential problems associated with the production of biofuels.
Mr. Allotey said the current food crisis being experienced in some parts of the world could be attributed to the production of biofuels.
That, he said, called for critical examination of land use issues where good agricultural lands were being put under the production of energy crops for biofuels leading to land shortage and poverty. �The cultivation of biofuels will also affect biodiversity, as large tracts of indigenous vegetation are converted to one single crop.
�In view of these concerns, there is the need to critically look at ways and means of the production and use of biofuels,� he said.
�Currently in Ghana, about six companies have put in application to produce biofuels in the country. However, we are proceeding cautiously to ensure that we don�t sacrifice our food security in the name of biofuels,� he added.
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