Sir, – We are all experiencing rises in the price of cereal-based food. Close to 10 per cent of grain grown in Europe is converted to ethanol for biofuels, which depend on government mandates and subsidies to be viable.
At a time when states in Europe, and other countries, are contemplating shortages of cereals, it must make sense to remove these mandates and subsidies, hence diverting cereals to mitigate the shortfalls arising from the war in Ukraine, while at the same time increasing food security. Last month the Czech Republic ended its mandate requiring ethanol to be blended with petrol.
Surely it is time for other European countries to do the same and to stop burning food. – Yours, etc,
PAUL DUGGAN,
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Rathmines,
Dublin 6.