The planting of jathropa will soon be massively undertaken among the provinces in Central Visayas next year, according to the Department of Agriculture.
DA-7 director Eduardo Lecciones said over 200,000 hectares of land in the region are to be planted and or intercropped with jathropa, locally known as “tuba-tuba.”
Lecciones said majority of the identified areas are in Oriental Negros and Bohol where there are many groups and individuals interested in the propagation of jathropa.
Jathropa was recently identified as one of the most feasible source of green fuel or feedstock aside from sugarcane and coconut, as it is non-edible and easy to propagate.
The move to entice farmers and other planters to propagate jathropa was earlier criticized to affect the production of other crops.
But Renato Velasco, who heads the Alternative Fuels Corporation, a subsidiary of state-owned Philippine National Oil Company, said they do not aim to make farmers shift their food crop production to jatropha.
“We want the farmers to continue growing rice, sugar, and others. What we intend to do is give farmers additional income by developing idle lands by planting jatropha,” he said. Velasco stressed that the company wants the public to know that wide-scale scientific work on jatropha is sdill being done by the PNOC-AFC, concerned government agencies and the academe.
PNOC-AFC, with DA and other agencies, spearheads the research and development as well as propagation policies on alternative fuels.
Velasco said there is an ongoing study to find out which is the best variety of jatropha that can be planted and is suitable in various parts of the country.
“The Philippine is capable of producing jatropha biodiesel that can pass international standards. What is more important to note is that we used seeds from the local jatropha variety,” Velasco said.
He said the Food and Agricultural Organization had assessed the potential of jatropha as a biodiesel feedstock.
The results showed that the Philippines has sufficient arable lands and favorable climatic conditions to ensure a large jathropa production every year. — Ferliza C. Contratista/LPM