news/updates
Jatropha processing plant up
May 31, 2007
The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. is putting up the country’s first jatropha processing plant to encourage the use of jatropha as a biodiesel source.
PCAFI president Alejandro Teves Escaño said yesterday that the P8.5 million pilot processing plant to be put up in General Santos City was expected to produce about 20,000 liters a month of jatropha diesel.
The pilot plant would be supported by 100 hectares of land planted to jatropha.
“We have already mapped out and identified about 13 million hectares of land nationwide which can be sued for jatropha. If everything goes well with the pilot plant, we plan to put up one processing plant in every province,” said Escaño.
To be funded by the Asian Development Bank, the project would cost P12.5 million to P8.5 million for the construction of the plant, and another P4 million for the development of the 100 hectares of land planted to jatropha.
We would start the construction as soon as the funds flow in which we hope would be anytime this year,” said Escaño.
PCAFI represents private firms and stakeholders in the agriculture, fisheries and food industries.
According to Escaño, there are currently 1,000 hectares of land planted to jatropha.
“People have started to plant already, but there are no available processing plants to refine jatropha oil,” he said.
In Mindanao, there are already several areas where unified jatropha oil is being used for household consumption, such as for small generators and gas stoves.
Last year, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo released P500 million for the planting of jatropha in Armed Forces of the Philippines camps.
The jatropha plantation in Fort Magsaysay earns primarily from the sale of jatropha seeds to interested farmers, said Escaño.
Escaño stressed that planting jatropha has a lot of value-added benefits – it can be a source of alternative livelihood and is environment-friendly as well.
“Farmers can earn as much as P28,000 to P52,000 a hectare yearly from planting jatropha alone. If you intercrop, for example coconuts with jatropha, then you’d be earning even more,” he said.
Through intercropping, jatropha could also fertilize the soil organically.
In fact, Nestle Philippines has already proposed the intercropping of coffee with jatropha, said Escaño.
He added that growing jatropha was easy as the plant can be propagated almost anywhere in the country.
Jatropha does not require too much labor and production cost is low because the investment would only go to the purchase of seeds and lad development.
“A jatropha plant can last 50 to 75 years, so there is no need t constantly replant. If the palnt dies, you just cut off stems and it will grow again,” he said.
“Jatropha is something that we can grow locally and the Philippines would never run out of,” Escaño added.
By Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
May 31, 2007
