The Department of Agriculture announced that Mindanao had committed 90,000 ha for biofuel feedstock production. Chiefly to be used for the planting of sugarcane, sweet sorghum and cassava. 2/3rd of the 90,000 ha is said to be found in South Cotobato alone. In line with this they have also started a massive fertilization project to beef up the coconut stocks in the island (accounts to 50% of the total Philippine production.)
Next to the Negros Region, Bukidnon (Region X) is the second largest producing area for sugarcane.
Cassava production tops at the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, primarily because they use it as a staple in place of rice. Next to that we have Region X again and trailing slightly behind is the CARAGA region. The main use of cassava in Region X however is as a feedstock for starch production.
Mindanao is a good choice for the production of feedstock primarily because of the rich volcanic soil and the fact that it rarely gets hit by typhoons. The only part of the island that is prone to typhoons is CARAGA, primarily because of its closeness to the Eastern Visayas which is known as the front door of all typhoons entering the Philippines. One problem however, is that because of its ideal geographic location, a lot of farms producing food crops are already established here. Year long good weather with good sunlight coverage makes for a very productive and stable crop harvest.
There is a debate ensuing, on whether biofuel feed stock production could affect food supply. Definitely, if the price is that good that farmers rush to convert their land to the production of biofuel feedstock. However, do we really want to prevent this? I mean we already import a lot of our rice from Vietnam, not to mention we hear of vegetables being smuggled into the Philippines from China. I’m curious with the idea of converting Mindanao into a biofuel production power house, who knows, we could even start exporting Biofuels when production exceeds demand.
Original Article here
Source of Data Bureau of Agricultural Statistics
Category: Biodiesel, Bioethanol
