5 local, foreign firms to invest in ethanol distilleries in RP

President Arroyo gave recently her blessings and full support to commercialize the planting of sweet sorghum as a viable and sustainable source of bioethanol, thus boosting the implementation of the recently signed "Biofuels Act" or Republic Act 9367.

This early, five local and foreign companies plan to put up ethanol distilleries that could make use of either sweet sorghum, sugarcane and other feedstock.

The President has instructed Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to assist prospective investors in identifying appropriate areas in the country where they could locate and engage in the commercial planting of sweet sorghum and establish ethanol distilleries.

Initially, investors are eyeing the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and the Visayas.

"Showing her keen interest, President Arroyo has accepted an invitation to visit the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), in Batac, Ilocos Norte, where the DA through the Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR) has been conducting sweet sorghum production field trials," said former Agriculture Secretary William Dar, who is currently director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in Andhra Pradesh, India.

ICRISAT, in partnership with an Indian company, Rusni Distilleries, recently put up the world’s first sweet sorghum-fed ethanol plant in Andra Pradesh. Dar said the distillery has a capacity of 40,000 liters a day, and required an initial investment of $8.5 million. It started operating in October 2006.

"President Arroyo has also accepted an invitation to visit India and ICRISAT in April this year, and a tour of the ethanol plant may form part of her itinerary," added Dar, who along with ICRISAT officials and Indian investors, recently met with President Arroyo and Yap in Malacañang.

ICRISAT is one of 15 allied centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). ICRISAT conducts innovative agricultural research and capacity building with a wide array of partners in 48 countries to help alleviate hunger and poverty and protect the environment of the dry tropics.

Early last year, President Arroyo received from Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam several kilos of foundation seeds of sweet sorghum developed by ICRISAT. Immediately thereafter, with funding from the DA-BAR and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the MMSU went on to field-test eight varieties, of which five have adapted successfully in Ilocos Norte.

Dar said field tests of sweet sorghum in MMSU have shown encouraging results, with average yield at 110 tons of stalks per hectare, from two croppings of eight months. Such yield is higher than sugarcane, which is a 12-month crop.

Further, sweet sorghum requires less inputs and water compared with sugarcane and other bioethanol sources.

Dar said farmers could earn a net income ranging from P65,000 to P72,000 per hectare from two croppings of sweet sorghum.

"In a way, the entry of sweet sorghum could optimize the operation and efficiency of sugarcane mills and distilleries, as these operate for only 150 days," Dar noted. "The recommended optimum operating capacity for any ethanol distillery is 270 days.

"With additional feedstock in sweet sorghum, existing sugarcane mills could therefore optimize their operation by milling and processing sweet sorghum into ethanol during that 120-day slack," explained Dar.

Sweet sorghum and sugarcane are thus complementary, and are not competing commodities. Overall, there are bright prospects in growing sweet sorghum, not only as feedstock for ethanol production, but also as food and feedgrain, he added.

"The commercialization and massive planting of sweet sorghum augurs well for our country, with the recent enactment of the Biofuels Act, mandating the use of ethanol-blended gasoline and biodiesel," Dar said.

"I commend Secretary Yap for initiating the first technology investment forum on sweet sorghum for ethanol last Jan. 19, where it attracted stakeholders and prospective Filipino and foreign investors," he added.

Five local and foreign companies have signed up with Rusni Distilleries and ICRISAT to use the multi-feedstock ethanol distillery system, which makes use of sweet sorghum, sugarcane and other bioethanol sources.

Such development would indeed benefit tens of thousands of farmers and their families – particularly in Northern Luzon, where production trials have been successful – as they would have a viable cash crop in sweet sorghum, and also as source of food and feed.