Biofuels, environment, and food security in Africa

Abstract

AbstractIn recent years global hunger has increased across the world. Africa is the main contributor to this and more people in Africa are affected by undernourishment. This issue is likely to be exacerbated by the rapid development of the biofuels industry across the globe. However, it would be very strange to conclude that the production of biofuels should be neglected given that biofuels are intended to preserve the quality of the environment. Hence, the objective of this study is to search for a win‐win solution between biofuels and food security. Dynamic generalized method of moments results indicate that biofuels will have a positive effect on food security if their production can also promote environmental quality, which is favorable to crop production. Thus, it indicates that the significant expansion and consumption of biofuels could contribute to increasing food security and sustaining environmental quality.