Jatropha biofuel: full speed ahead in the Philippines
Food prices are increasing. One factor in this problem is the rise in fuel prices, which is affecting farm input prices and transport costs. Biofuels, a renewable energy source, is being proffered as a solution to severe oil price increases in countries dependent on imported oil. Derived from the oils and fats of plants like sunflower, canola, and jatropha, biodiesel, a type of biofuel, can be used as a substitute for or an additive to conventional diesel.
The Philippine government jumped into the biofuels bandwagon by enacting a law on biofuels. The Biofuels Act of 2006, signed last year, mandates all oil companies to sell gasoline with at least one percent bioethanol three months after the law's enactment and with at least five parts bioethanol within two years. Four years after enactment, a national board may recommend mandating the distribution by every oil company of gasoline with 10 percent bioethanol.
In 2006, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo released P500M for planting jatropha in military camps. The Philippine National Oil Corporation (PNOC) through its Alternative Fuel Corporation (PNOC-AFC) has plans to grow 700,000 hectares of jatropha in 3 years, from 2008 to 2010. According to PNOC-AFC's estimates, the plants will be able to produce a million MT of biodiesel by 2011.
The PNOC-AFC has identified eleven provinces as potential sources of jatropha seedlings for the plantation. These provinces are Nueva Ecija, Laguna, Batangas, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon, Masbate, Cagayan de Oro, Agusan del Norte, and Bukidnon. The PNOC-AFC has also set up plantations in in Cagayan de Oro City, General Santos City, and Agusan del Sur. Its mega-nursery is located in Nueva Ecija.
Food security advocates, however, have raised concerns about biofuel crops encroaching land planted with food crops. Made attractive by promises of low-cost maintenance and high returns, jatropha is primed for mass plantation, making the crop a strong competitor for lands and other farming resources. Jatropha plantation puts efforts of achieving food security in the Philippines in jeopardy.
Jatropha plantation in the Philippines
|
Region/Province |
Land allotted No. of farmers |
Amount of Investment/Investor |
|
Eastern Visayas Basey,Samar
About 181,000 hectares of state- and privately-owned idle lands in the three Samar provinces are being eyed for the cultivation of jatropha.
(GMANews website, 24 March 2008)
|
28,000 hectares distributed in 32 out of 51 barangays; 212 Basaynons planting
The
company started the production of jatropha seedlings in a
five-hectare farm in San Roque, Northern Samar in July 2007 with
an investment of $5 million. Some of the seedlings were recently
transferred to about 300 hectares of land owned by local farmers.
|
Not stated
Korean
company, KIBIO, recently sought the support of government agencies
to facilitate the contract growing arrangement with farmers who
own at least one hectare of idle land or a coconut farm without
intercropping. |
|
No specific are indicated (Dept. of Agriculture)
|
100,000 hectares (247,105 acres) |
US$200 million / Spanish biodiesel firm Bionor Transformacion, S.A.
|
|
Quezon province (Manila Bulletin, 28 April 2008)
|
100,000 hectares
|
Total of P4.3B loan from Land Bank of the Philippines (availed by the cooperatives) Tripartite agreement among the Land Bank, PNOC-AFC and Quezon LGU |
|
Palawan (GMA News Website)
|
50,000-hectare property of Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm
|
MOA signed by PNOC-AFC and the Department of Justice |
|
Cordillera Administrative Region |
allocated 12,000 hectares. of government land in ancestral domain; 32,000 hectares more for expansion |
Not stated |
|
The towns of Valencia, Sta. Catalina, Siaton and Dauin in Negros Oriental (The Visayan Daily Star) |
covers an area of more than 24,000 hectares. |
Jatropha Biofuel joint venture agreement between the European Firm Global Tree Trust and the Herminio Teves Company Inc. |
Multinationals involved in Philippine biofuel enterprises
|
D1 Oils |
A part of its global jatropha-related operations, its 1000-ha. Mega-nursery is a with the PNOC. |
|
NRG Chemical Engineering Pte |
The British company signed a US$1.3-billion deal with the PNOC in May 2007. It will own a 70% stake in the venture which consists of the construction of a biodiesel refinery and two ethanol distilleries and the creation of a US$600-million jatropha plantation covering over 1 million hectares in Palawan and Mindanao. |
|
Bionor
|
Bionor is expected to export to Europe, where the company markets three blends and one pure variety of biodiesel. It operates two biodiesel plants, in Spain and Italy, with a combined output of 125,000 MT. |
|
KIBIO |
With an aim of making the Philippines the top biodiesel producer in the world, the Korean Company, KIBIO 2007 Co. Ltd. recently invested around $5M in jatropha produciton.
|
Projected biofuel demand in the Philippines
|
|
Diesel Demand |
Biodiesel Requirements |
||||||
|
Year |
(Million Liters) |
(Million Liters) |
||||||
|
|
(Low)* |
(High)* |
(Average) |
1% |
2% |
5% |
10% |
20% |
|
2006 |
3,964 |
11,009 |
7,486.50 |
74.87 |
149.73 |
373.33 |
748.85 |
1,497.30 |
|
2007 |
4,121 |
11,418 |
7,769.50 |
77.70 |
155.39 |
388.48 |
776.96 |
1,553.90 |
|
2008 |
4,274 |
11,842 |
8,058.00 |
80.58 |
161.16 |
402.90 |
805.80 |
1,611.60 |
|
2009 |
4,447 |
12,281 |
8,364.00 |
83.64 |
167.28 |
418.20 |
836.40 |
1,672.80 |
|
2010 |
4,586 |
12,738 |
8,662.00 |
86.62 |
173.24 |
433.10 |
866.20 |
1,732.40 |
|
2011 |
4,786 |
13,211 |
8,998.50 |
89.99 |
179.97 |
449.93 |
899.95 |
1,799.70 |
|
2012 |
4,988 |
13,701 |
9,344.50 |
93.45 |
186.89 |
467.23 |
934.45 |
1,868.90 |
|
2013 |
5,191 |
14,210 |
9,700.50 |
97.01 |
194.01 |
485.03 |
970.05 |
1,940.10 |
|
2014 |
5,365 |
14,738 |
10,051.50 |
100.52 |
201.03 |
502.58 |
1,005.15 |
2,010.30 |
|
2015 |
5,544 |
15,285 |
10,414.50 |
104.15 |
208.29 |
520.73 |
1,041.45 |
2,082.90 |
Source: PNOC-AFC Jatropha Roadmap