Greener, better future awaits Isabela sugarcane farmers

MANILA, Philippines - Thousands of land owners, their farmhands, and prospective workers of a bio-ethanol processing plant undergoing construction in a remote town in Isabela shared the redeeming feeling of hope and inspiring vision of a better future after undergoing a recent one-day seminar on the social amelioration and welfare program conducted by the Department of Labor and Employment.

Francisco Mabuti, former leader of a now defunct group of cassava farmers, said they have no regrets shifting to sugarcane given the crop’s potentials to deliver good income.

Mabuti said he and his colleagues owned farmlands totaling 1,500 hectares in San Mariano and adjoining towns in Isabela, of which about 40 hectares is now planted to sugarcane.

Addressing the participants, Ecofuel representative Greg Garcia said, “We are excited because there is something in store for us.” He added though that there is a challenge for everyone – work harder for the forthcoming benefits.

Ecofuel oversees the sugarcane plantation in at least eight towns in Isabela. The bio-ethanol and cogeneration plant built by Green Future Innovation will use this sugarcane as feedstock (raw materials) in the production of bio-ethanol.

Representatives of the Sugar Regulatory Board and the Renewable Energy Management Bureau of the Department of Energy also acted as resource speakers in the seminar.

They said the social amelioration module applied to the sugar industry would essentially be replicated in the bio-ethanol sector.