Department of Agriculture Secretary, Arthur Yap, had offered over 1.5 Million hectares of forest management areas to some high level Saudi investors so that they can invest in agricultural projects in the country. Some of the possible projects mentioned was for palm oil, fruits and biofuel feedstock.

The Saudi delegation is led by Saudi Agriculture Minister Dr. Fahad Bal-Ghunaim. They were shown yesterday areas in Mindanao. Mindanao is known as an agricultural paradise because it is usually spared by the 20+ typhoons that visit the Philippines yearly. This doesn’t mean however that Mindanao is free from the effects of weather. Strong rains take the place of typhoons in some areas that result in landslides and soil erosion. While some areas in the south west are sparsely rained on.
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The Catholic Church, which voiced concern along with some local groups on the proposed establishment of Alson’s Consolidated Resources (ACR) bioethanol processing plant in Cagayan De Oro, is set to convene a forum on April 28 in order to get the perspectives of the various stakeholders involved and to be able to be clarified about the issues being raised by each.
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A comprehensive study on the feasibility of Bioethanol production has been made public by the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA). The study was conducted by the DA’s Bureau of Agricultural Research’s (BAR) and centers on the viability of sweet sorghum and cassava for bioethanol feedstock.
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Publicly listed Alson’s Consolidated Resources (ACR) proposal to move their 24 hectare bioethanol distillery farther off from their previous site proposal was rejected by two groups opposed to the said project. The initial plan called for the setting up of the processing plant near the towns of Bayanga and Mambuaya.

ACR’s bioethanol investment in Cagayan De Oro was estimated to be about P2.1 B and would produce about 100,000 li/day of bioethanol.
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Leyte, the front door of almost all typhoons entering the Philippines is targeted for jatropha propagation by the PNOC Alternative Fuels Corp (PNOC-AFC). About 100 hectares worth of land is what they want to fill with jatropha curcas which will eventually be used for biodiesel production.
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According to some women B’laan tribal leaders from Sarangani province in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines; Jatropha Curcas cultivation for biofuels has caused hunger in their tribe as they have been planted in areas traditionally intended for food crops.

Over 500 hectares of land had been planted to Jatropha Curcas leaving them only a few hectares to plant food crops. The land that now holds Jatropha Curcas was once planted to rice, corn, banana and other root crops (most likely Cassava).
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