Saturday, February 03, 2007 Bio-fuels law to trigger aggie revolution: Zubiri By Antonio M. Ajero
THE newly approved Biofuels Act will trigger a virtual agro-industrial revolution in the countryside, according to Bukidnon Representative Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Zubiri told Davao mediamen that the new law requires fuel companies to mix gasoline with five percent bio-ethanol by 2008.
On the other hand, by April or May this year, gasoline firms should have a one percent bio-diesel blended with the diesel they are selling.
He said ethanol will be made of sugarcane, cassava, corn and sweet sorghum, while bio-diesel will come from coconut, jetropa (tuba-tuba) and palm oil.
"It will be a bonanza to farmers who will now be given a second market for their produce," Zubiri said.
At present, sugar planters only have sugar mills to sell their product to and they are at the mercy of fluctuating prices in the world market.
If the prices are depressed, the farmers are helpless because they do not have an alternative market. Not anymore, the Biofuels Act will provide sugar farmers a second market, Zubiri said.
This early, he said, records of the Board of Investments indicate that a total of 15 big investors have applied for pioneering status for bio-ethanol plants and another group of investors seeking to establish five bio-diesel plants
For instance, he said, two investors are establishing ethanol plants in Bukidnon -- one in Quezon and the other in Kibawe side.
He said one plant is being proposed in Cagayan Valley, and another one in Tarlac, which will save the sugar industry imperiled by the closure of Hacienda Luisita.
In addition, two other plants are planned in Pampanga, two also in Batangas, one in Cagayan de Oro, one in Sarangani, and two in Davao del Sur.
Once operational, the ethanol plans will raise sugar prices, aside from triggering a boom in employment and secondary business activities in the countryside, he said.
He said it is a must that the plants will be established in the rural areas because it is where the bio-fuel feed stocks are planted.
