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Despite the “raging” debate on food versus fuel, the benefits
biofuels can bring far outweigh such issues that have yet to affect
the Philippines, according to an energy consultancy firm.
In an industry report, Merritt Partners said the
continued implementation of the country’s biofuels program under
the Biofuels Act of 2006 is a “bold positive step towards the
right direction.”
The report was released amid calls for the
law’s suspension brought on by claims that crops used for biofuels
are planted on lands intended for food production.
The Gallagher review recently released by the
United Kingdom’s Renewable Fuels Agency found that land use change
spurred by a shift to energy crops contributes to higher food
prices.
A previous United Nations report also said that
biofuels production has pushed the prices of some food crops.
But Merritt Partners, which is chaired by former
Energy Secretary Vince Perez, said that such issues “should be
examined based on the actual agricultural situation of a particular
biofuel-producing country.”
In the Philippines, biofuel substitute for
diesel is primarily sourced from coconut while that for gasoline is
culled mainly from sugarcane.
The country is currently one of the world’s
top producers and exporters of sugarcane and coconut, respectively.
Citing records from the Bureau of Agriculture Statistics, Merritt
Partners said the country increased production of its staple food,
rice, to 16.24 million tons from 12.39 million tons between 2002 and
2007 at the same time that it expanded the area for rice cultivation
to 4.27 million hectares from 4.04 million hectares.
“These figures have led us to conclude that
the implementation of the biofuels program had not affected the
country’s food production,” it said.
Merritt Partners instead pinned the cause of
rising food prices on such factors as speculative trading, increase
in demand from growing economies, changes in weather patterns and
incessant increases in fuel costs.
It noted that as an archipelago, the price of
commodities in the country is susceptible to fuel spikes as economic
production areas are scattered in a number of islands.
In light of this, Merritt Partners said that the
unabated rise of oil prices does not bode well for an oil-importing
country like the Philippines.
“It is clear that the country needs to develop
and utilize indigenous fuel sources to support and sustain its
growth and counteract the consequences of high oil prices,” it
added.
-- Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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