Philippine gov’t primes jatropha industry

PUERTO PRINCESA — The government is offering interested jatropha investors technical expertise and bigger perks, as it pump primes the industry for increased local demand and possible exports in 2009. National Biofuels Board Executive Director Ramon G. Santos said at the First Luzon Jatropha Forum in Palawan on Friday that the agency will draft a road map for the program. Aside from tax benefits, other government perks due choice investors, and crop insurance for farmers will be included in the jatropha program. For its part, lead agency Philippine National Oil Co.-Alternative Fuels Corp. (PNOC-AFC) is offering its expertise in jatropha farming to entice both farmers who will plant the seeds and investors who will buy them. PNOC-AFC Chairman Renato S. Velasco said a recent study by the University of Michigan cited the Philippines as being the fifth most advanced in jatropha research. "In the region, we are even number three," he said. The PNOC-AFC, together with the academe, is continuously conducting wide-scale scientific work on jatropha. Some of the studies aim to find out the best variety of jatropha suitable for different parts of the country. Mr. Velasco said, "Our budget this year is P80 million. That will go into both financial and technical assistance to jatropha farmers [and investors] around the country." But without an industrial biodiesel refinery onstream, neither PNOC-AFC nor its partners have produced commercial quantities of jatropha oil in the Philippines. The PNOC-AFC has promised it will able to produce commercial quantities of jatropha oil by October. "We have the equipment already. So we just need the seeds to feed into the equipment," Mr. Velasco said last Thursday. PNOC-AFC and partners currently have about 2,000 hectares planted to jatropha in Palawan, Fort Magsaysay, Cagayan de Oro, Agusan del Sur, and General Santos. From this first wave of planting, Mr. Velasco said some 400 million tons of jatropha crude oil could be produced in 2009. It will be in excess of the 150 million liters required by law next year. The Biofuels Law, or Republic Act 9367, requires the blending of 2% biodiesel into regular diesel in 2009. Coco methyl ester, presently used as the biofuel additive, is already in oversupply so jatropha oil will further swell production. Mr. Velasco said the jatropha program even promotes efficient land utilization. "If it were not for jatropha, these lands would not be utilized," he said, as he surveyed a 70-hectare jatropha nursery in the southern part of Palawan. M. K. C. Conti/BusinessWorld