RP trees won't be cut down to give way to biofuel crops DOST

MANILA, Philippines – The country will not allow the planting of biofuel crops in areas where trees would have to be cut down, a government scientist clarified Tuesday.

Dr. Patricio Faylon, executive director of the Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development, also belied international reports which said that biofuel production would encourage farmers to plant biofuel feedstock instead of food crops.

Faylon said biofuels, such as jatropha and sweet sorghum, are being planted in wastelands so that there will be no conflict with food production.

“We will use idle lands for biofuels production in the country, we will not be cutting down trees,” Faylon told The STAR.

The rise in food prices has intensified the heated food versus fuel debate.

A science magazine in the United States also reported that cutting down Brazilian rainforest to grow soybeans for diesel fuel would result in a so-called carbon debt that would take 319 years to repay.

Most prior studies have found that substituting biofuels for gasoline will reduce greenhouse gases because biofuels sequester carbon through the growth of the feedstock.

But according to reports, these analyses have failed to count the carbon emissions that occur as farmers worldwide respond to higher prices and convert forest and grassland to new cropland to replace the grain diverted to biofuels.

Faylon also belied reports that the biofuels production would increase greenhouse gas emissions.

“In the United States, they use inorganic fertilizers which increase greenhouse gas emission. But in the Philippines, we will use organic fertilizers or biofertilizers,” Faylon said.

He added that currently, PCARRD has identified five high-yield varieties of jatropha curcas. Jatropha is being studied in the Philippines as potential feedstock for biofuels.

“We need more scientific studies to determine the best jatropha variety that has high yield,” Faylon said.

President Arroyo has signed the Biofuels Law which aims to lessen the country’s dependence on imported crude oil.

The Biofuel Act of 2006 mandates the blending of coco-biodiesel or coco-methyl ester (CME) in all diesel fuel and gasoline sold across the country.

Officials of the DOST earlier said the government would save $26 million or about P1.3 billion worth of fuel imports with the initial implementation of the law. – Helen Flores