Cabinet okays P500-M budget for jatropha planting

The Cabinet has approved the P500-million budget for planting jatropha, a plant whose seeds contain oil which can be used as fuel, the country’s top economic planner said.

"The P500-million proposal for planting jatropha on vacant military lands was part of the presentation of the National Economic and Development Authority to the Cabinet on energy independence which included bio-ethanol, geothermal, wind power," Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA director general Romulo L. Neri said in a statement.

According to Neri, the proposal to transfer money from Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) to the Philippine Forest Corp. under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources was approved in a Cabinet meeting to jumpstart the planting of jatropha on vacant military lands for biodiesel production.

Neri said planting jatropha seeds would save the government $2 billion from diesel importation.

Jatropha’s seeds contain oil extract which can be used to power diesel engines.

"If we become self-sufficient in diesel, we can save 30 percent of the $6 to $7 billion worth of oil we import a year," Neri explained.

Neri said self-sufficiency in diesel production can be achieved if the country can plant jatropha seeds in two million hectares of land. The target for this, he said is five to seven years.

"There is a lot of interest (for the project) from local governments and private investors. We have so many lands that are just there," he noted.

The initial planting will be in Gen. Tolentino Fort Magsaysay, a military camp in Laur, Nueva Ecija. A total of 36,000 hectares will be planted with jathropa seeds.

"The reason why we chose a military land is because they can implement the project at once," Neri explained.

Aside from this, the use of military lands will mean lower costs for the government because they are planning to use lower risk prisoners to do the planting.

For every hectare of jatropha plants harvested, three tons of oil may be used. This is almost equivalent to three tons of diesel or about 3,000 liters.

Neri estimated the cost of processing oil extracted from the jatropha seeds to be about P17 per liter.