Monday, June 09, 2008 PNOC seeks 1.2M hectares for jatropha
STATE-owned Philippine National Oil Company-Alternative Fuels Corp. (PNOC-AFC) is doing the rounds in Mindanao in a bid to attract farmers to plant jatropha curcas as part of the government's program to lessen the country's dependence on imported fuel amid surging prices of the commodity.
Renato S. Velasco, PNOC-AFC chair, recently visited the Mindanao State University campus in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao to promote the cultivation of jatropha or tuba-tuba in the vernacular.
Velasco said across Mindanao the firm is looking for 1.2 million hectares that will be planted with the crop. He said there is an urgent need to develop alternative sources of fuel in the wake of surging prices of imported oil products.
"We have many idle lands across the country that can be planted with jatropha, which would mean additional income for our farmers and help the government source out alternative fuels," Velasco said.
"Jatropha does not need maintenance. Our farmers can really make use of idle, communal and marginal lands. With the studies that we have done for the past two years, one hectare of jatropha can sustain jobs for two. In 18 months, we can already harvest and it will last up to fifty years," he added.
Velasco pointed out that the continuous global hike in fuel pushed the government to develop alternative sources of fuels such as jatropha.
Robert Visco, a doctor of Agriculture & Forestry at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, said that studies are on-going for the development of jatropha production in collaboration with concerned government agencies.
"To boost production of jatropha, we are touring the country specifically here in Mindanao to open new nurseries of the crop and give technical assistance related to the project," Visco said.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act (RA) 9367 known as the Biofuels Act of 2006 into law in January 2007. RA 9367 mandates the use of biofuels in the country.
In line with this, the government is implementing an alternative fuel program to reduce the country's dependence on imported oil and provide a cheaper and more environment friendly alternatives to fossil fuels.
The PNOC-AFC was given the mandate to spearhead the implementation of the government biofuels project. They will likewise speed up the development, promotions, commercialization of biofuels as alternative sources of energy especially from ethanol and jatropha.
Jatropha is a shrub that produces golfball size fruits which contains oil.
The Land Bank of the Philippines has signed an agreement to provide PNOC-AFC with P5 billion to finance the jatropha development program. (BSS)
