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Cavite town to expand sugarcane areas for bioethanol production
by Joeven C. Calasagsag - Thursday, 24 February 2011, 11:34 AM
 
mb.com.ph; February 24, 2011, 12:46am

MANILA, Philippines – The Municipal Government of Magallanes in Cavite is aiming to expand the area planted to sugarcane from the current 3,500 hectares to 6,000 hectares to meet the future demand of the proposed bioethanol plant in the municipality.

At the recent Cavite First Agri-Fest and Farmers Congress held in Trece Martires City, Magallanes Mayor Edwin Sisante said that the P3.1-billion worth of bioethanol plant whose construction will start as soon as the necessary requirements are finalized, will have a production capacity of 125,000 liters per day and will supply the biofuel requirements of a Japanese firm as well as that of a big local corporation.

The bioethanol plant which will be located at Sitio Lobo Lobo in Barangay Caluangan, will be operated and managed by the Cavite Biofuel Producers Incorporated and will tap the Cavite Sugarcane Planters Multi-purpose Cooperative (CSPMPC) for the supply of feedstock. The co-op has 100 direct members who are all engaged in sugarcane farming.

While waiting for the bioethanol plant to be completed, sugarcane farmers in Magallanes are taking advantage of the high price of sugar which is now around P2,150 per picul. Sisante said that once the bioethanol plant becomes operational, the municipal government will guarantee a premium price for the sugarcane farmers’ corresponding produce which will be absorbed by the plant.

On a limited basis, there are sugarcane farmers who process their harvest into muscovado sugar locally called “pardo” which is also gaining an increasing market share in Cavite and nearby provinces. Unlike the sugarcane used for the production of regular sugar, muscovado producers utilize only the sloping areas for planting sugarcane.

The mayor said that muscovado sugar production in Magallanes is limited because the processors still adopt the traditional method in which a carabao pulls the grinder clockwise to extract the sugarcane juice. But with the muscovado sugar recently having been chosen as Magallanes’ One Town, One Product (OTOP) commodity, a plan is now under way to mechanize production with the cooperation of the municipal government of Magallanes, Department of Agriculture, Land Bank of the Philippines and the Department of Science and Technology.

Magallanes’ muscovado sugar is marketed by Magallanes Women’s Club Multi-purpose Cooperative (MAWCO). The current retail price of muscovado sugar in Magallanes is P100 per kilogram.

In line with the expansion of sugarcane areas, the municipal government provides support to the farmers by helping them acquire loan assistance from bank in the form of farm inputs.

Sisante added that they are also continuously upgrading the varieties used by the farmers. “We bought high-yielding varieties from Negros which we propagated and distributed to our local farmers,” the mayor said. Relative to this, Freddie Sisante of the CSPMPC said that they are set to test one of the new varieties on a three-hectare area in the next cropping season.

Local sugarcane farmers are also gradually adopting organic farming to reduce production cost. Besides, they claim that the application of dried chicken dung on the soil and the application of organic foliar fertilizer, among others, increase the sugar content of the sugarcane plants.

Sugarcane is the top agricultural product of Magallanes which has a total land area of 8,293 hectares. At present, Magallanes’ average production stands at 60-ton cane per hectare (TC/ha) which is expected to increase with the introduction of new varieties as well as the adoption of better farming technologies.(By MELPHA M. ABELLO)

Source: Cavite town to expand sugarcane areas for bioethanol production
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