MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) will push for the wider adoption of renewable energy (RE) in the agriculture sector through capacity building to help reduce food production costs.
The DA, through Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering (BAFE), will undertake institutional development and capacity building activities that highlight valuable economic benefits of RE in agri-fisheries such as reduction in energy requirement and lowering of production costs.
This would be done as BAFE spearheads the implementation of Renewable Energy Program for the Agriculture and Fisheries Sector (REPAFS), BAFE Assistant Director Juana Tapel said.
Signed by the DA and the Department of Energy (DOE) in August 2020, the REPAFS serves as the blueprint in the effective implementation of renewable energy projects in the agriculture and fisheries sector.
It is also one of the components of the National Renewable Energy Program and forms part of the DA’s National Agriculture and Fishery Modernization and Industrialization Plan and the National Agri Fishery Mechanization Plan.
The program is also part of the government’s interagency collaboration on boosting food and energy security through the utilization of cost-efficient RE sources in the agri-fisheries sector.
The BAFE said farmers’ cooperative and associations, individual farmers and fisherfolks among other stakeholders will benefit from the development of RE technology applications for the food value chain.
Based on latest available data from the DOE, energy demand of the Philippine agriculture and fisheries sector has significantly increased over the past decades.
Out of the 471.7 kilo ton of oil equivalent (kTOE) consumed by the agri-fisheries sector in 2019, more than 50 percent or 239.9 kTOE is accounted for by electricity, while 227.6 kTOE is attributed to fossil fuels or petroleum products like diesel, gasoline, fuel oil, and kerosene.
Currently, the country’s agri-fisheries sector depends heavily on petroleum products or fossil fuels to power farming and fishing activities.
The BAFE said the sector needs to consider alternative sources to meet the rising energy requirement amid a growing population and the threat of climate change.
It said RE sources have the potential to substitute fossil fuels and provide a more sustainable and clean system for the agri-fisheries sector.
“As food value chains undergo rapid modernization, alternatives to fossil fuels are necessary to ensure that food systems are secure, environmentally sustainable, and resilient,” it said.
The BAFE said the shift from fossil fuels to RE reduces the dependence and vulnerability of the agri-fisheries sector to fluctuations in the price of imported oil and could potentially reduce cost of producing food.
In 2008, Republic Act 9513 or Renewable Energy Law was enacted to develop, utilize, and commercialize renewable energy resources in the country. Projects not only on solar energy but all other aspects of RE have been rolled out since then.
Based on interventions from 1988-2021, existing RE projects implemented by the government for the agri-fisheries sector are about 4,288 units nationwide comprising different RE sources such as biomass, hydro, solar, and wind.
RE technologies have been integrated into several production and postharvest operations.
Some of the RE projects implemented by various government agencies are solar powered irrigation systems, solar-photo voltaic power systems (grid-tie and off-grid), solar PV for street lighting, solar-powered aquaponics system, solar-powered venturi aeration system, wind-powered irrigation system, ram pump irrigation system, biomass furnace and gasifier, small-scale biogas plant, and hydropower project.