Philippines: Agriculture gears up for massive biofuels production

At least 70 million liters of additive from coconut for diesel fuel will be needed to comply with the Biofuels Act, which requires a 1-percent biofuel blend for diesel and goes into operation in 2009.

The 70-million-liter estimate, taken from studies conducted by the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), is based on the country’s transport-industry consumption of 7 billion liters of diesel per year.
For coconut farmers, the bonanza presented by the demand for biofuel from coconut cannot be ignored. The same goes for farmers who are seeking better buying prices and deals for their produce.

More tracts of idle land can be developed for planting biofuel crops, which can potentially employ up to hundreds of thousands or even millions of workers.

Outside of the 10 million hectares of land now devoted to agriculture are four million hectares of idle public land that can be planted with various crops, including biofuel crops.

The planting materials for various biofuel crops—like corn, cassava and jatropha—can be sourced from the government or commercially, with no need to import. So, the Philippines conserves its US dollars.

Manila Times