As the prices of fodder wheat and sunflower keep on dropping, farmers’ opportunities to earn on grain crops are fading away. Specialists claim: there are two ways out of the crisis under present circumstances -- livestock farming and biological fuel production.

“In 1990, when the grain crop used to be 50 million tons, livestock farming consumed 55% of the harvest. At present, livestock farming almost does not exist in Ukraine. The second problem: the country needs deep processing. While we are talking very much about biological fuel, next-door countries are launching more and more processing programs,” says Vitaliy Skotsyk, director general of AMACO.

Surplus fodder grain can foster the development of livestock farming and biological fuel production -- international experience also is evidence of that.

“Being an international company, we work with similar programs in other countries. For example, Russia intends now to establish the Ministry of Biological Fuel and Technologies. A plant for processing grain crops into biological fuel is about to be put into operation in Omsk. It is designed to process 300,000 tons of grain, of which 90% is fodder crops. Nine new biological ethanol plants will be launched in the Russian Federation within the coming year; there are plans to produce 1 million tons of biological ethanol.

Kazakhstan adopted a similar program yet 18 months ago, and this year Alma-Aty, the country’s biggest city, is fully switching to consuming fuel with biological admixtures,” Vitaliy Skotsyk says.

The lion’s share of newly harvested grain crops does not meet the quality requirement set by the world markets, which is why one should earn on them within the country. Ukraine still exports more than 90% of rape crops in kind, and it is outside the country where biological fuel is made of them.

“No matter whether corn or grain crops are used, the production of biological fuel yields dried residues (33-40% of total output) in addition to biological ethanol. This is quite a lump sum that makes it possible for one to keep a livestock farm near the processing plant and make additional profits,” Vitaliy Skotsyk says.