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DISTILLERY and power-cogeneration plant will soon be set
up in Bukidnon for bioethanol production.
The
Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has signed a
memorandum of understanding with the South Bukidnon
Bioenergy Inc. (SBBI) to launch project SugarBio-E, or
the sugar-cane production for bioenergy, which is
expected to boost sugar-cane production in the province.
The
project, under the DAR’s Agrarian Reform
Entrepreneurship Development Program, will build and
operate an integrated ethanol distillery and
power-cogeneration plant in Kibawe, South Bukidnon.
The DAR
will provide training to farmers on sugar-cane
production technology and entrepreneurial development to
farmer-beneficiaries who will supply sugar-cane to the
distillery and the power plant.
The
annual operation of the plant is estimated to consume
600,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar cane. The company is
allotting 300,000 MT or half of its annual requirement
to farmer-beneficaries and their organizations to supply
the plant.
“The
volume is 50 percent of the annual requirement to
operate the plant. At an average yield of 50 tons per
hectare, this is translated to 6,000 hectares of lands
in South Bukidnon and Carmen, North Cotabato,” Agrarian
Reform Secretary Nasser C. Pangandaman said.
The SBBI
will establish the distillery and power-cogeneration
plant. It would also make distillation by-product
available to farmers for use as organic fertilizer at no
cost. The SBBI would also prioritize qualified
residents near the project site to work in the plant.
“Because
the power plant and distillery would need to produce
large amounts of sugarcane annually, large tracts of
unproductive farmlands in South Bukidnon and North
Cotabato will be tapped for this agribusiness venture.
This could also mean more jobs and income for our
farmers,” Pangandaman added.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law the
Biofuels Act of 2006, which gave investors an
opportunity to produce ethanol to supply the local
demand for fuel from plant sources. |
