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By Efren L. Danao, Senior
Reporter
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri charged
that oil firms are behind the increasing attack on the
government’s biofuels program by raising fears on its supposedly
adverse effects on food production.
Zubiri, principal author of the
Biofuels Law, was reacting to a study by Oxfam International
attributing 30 percent of the rise in food prices to biofuels and
claiming that they have pushed 30 million people around the world
into poverty already.
“Today’s biofuels are not
solving the climate or fuel crises but are instead contributing to
food insecurity and inflation, hitting poor people the hardest,”
said Rob Balley, the author of the report.
Zubiri on Friday said Oxfam
International and other critics of biofuels are not exactly
objective observers.
“A BBC report said the
oil-producing countries of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Saudi Arabia are the
biggest donors of Oxfam. It is not far-fetched to imagine that Oxfam
is merely returning a favor to its biggest donors,” he added.
Oxfam International groups 13
organizations working with over 3,000 partners in more than 100
countries “to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice.”
Biofuels not the culprit
Zubiri denied that the biofuels
program is the reason behind the increase in world food prices.
“The increase in food prices is
commensurate to the increase in the price of fuel. Producers spend
more for transportation and fertilizer, which is a fossil oil
by-product,” he said.
Zubiri claimed that oil companies
are raking it in with oil prices at all-time high.
“They never had it so good and
they are panicking that biofuels would reduce their bonanza,” he
said.
Zubiri added that a fuel blend of
85-percent ethanol and 15-percent unleaded gasoline would cost only
P35 a liter, compared to the P57 a liter at present.
He said there are two ethanol
plants in the Philippines—one in Negros Occidental and the other
in Leyte—capable of producing a combined 45 million liters a year.
“There are 17 more in the
pipeline, worth a total of P45 billion in investments, waiting for
the issuance of guidelines on agro-industrial conversion,” Zubiri
added.
He assured that the biofuels
program in the Philippines would never affect food production,
unlike in other countries pursuing a similar program.
“The condition in the
Philippines is different from that in Europe where soybeans and
sunflower are the feedstock for biodiesel production, and in the US
where corn is used for bioethanol,” Zubiri said.
He pointed out that the feedstock
for bioethanol in the Philippines is sugar, a mere food additive,
and for biodiesel, jatropha.
“Eat five seeds of jatropha and
you will be hospitalized because it is toxic. Jathropa does not
reduce the [area of the] land devoted to agricultural products
because it grows best in upland areas,” Zubiri said.
He added that there is an excess
production of sugar in the Philippines and that enough can be used
to produce three billion liters of bioethanol.
“People are becoming more
health-conscious and are consuming less sugar. What’s more, sugar
imported from Thailand is cheaper. The sugar industry will die and
five million workers will be laid off if we stop the biofuels
program. What’s more, we will have a cheaper source of fuel,”
Zubiri said.
Corn shortage
On the looming shortage in corn
that The Manila Times reported on Friday, he proposed that the
government buy fertilizers straight from the producers and open corn
importation to ease the possible crisis.
During a consultative meeting on
Thursday on the commercialization of organic and microbial
fertilizers, Dennis Araullo, the head of GMA (Ginintuang Masaganang
Ani) Corn Program, said the high prices of inorganic fertilizers are
forcing many farmers to give up on corn or cut back their corn
production. Corn in the Philippines is largely grown for animal
feeds.
Zubiri said the Department of
Agriculture should lift its ban on the importation of corn to assure
enough feeds for the poultry and livestock industry.
“There should be no tariff on
corn importation. We can buy from Australia and China, not only from
the United States,” he added.
Zubiri revealed that it is much
cheaper for Manila-based firms to buy corn from Australia and
Thailand than from Bukidnon in Mindanao because local shipping costs
are more expensive.
He said that instead of giving
fertilizer subsidy of P500 each to a limited number of farmers, the
government should buy the fertilizer direct from the producers or go
into fertilizer production itself.
“Excluding labor, a corn farmer
must spend at least P9,000 per hectare for fertilizers and seeds. He
cannot earn much after harvest because traders depress the price,”
Zubiri also claimed.
Because of the high prices of
inorganic fertilizers, the Department of Agriculture through its
various agencies, such as the Bureau of Soils and Water Management,
wants more farmers to use organic and microbial fertilizers, while
cutting down on chemical inputs.
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