Tarlac, Pampanga farmers lease out lands to ethanol maker

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – Some 100 farmers in Tarlac and Pampanga have leased out their farmlands to a US-based company which plans to produce fuel ethanol from sugarcane.

The lands, located in Magalang in Pampanga and Concepcion in Tarlac, will be used for sugarcane cultivation to supply E-Cane Fuel Corp. (ECFC) with enough raw materials for the production of fuel ethanol.

Jean-Pierre Monclin, ECFC chairman and chief executive officer, said he expects more farmers to support the project, which initially needs over 4,000 hectares of contiguous lands for the cultivation of sugarcane feedstock.

Monclin said the project plans to supply the domestic market with at least 30 percent of its yearly output.

"It will also contribute to making the Philippines an exporter of ethanol to its Asian neighbors," he said.

The farmers started receiving yesterday the first tranche of checks for the lease payments and were also issued PhilHealth membership cards as part the ECFC’s corporate social responsibility program during a ceremony at the Pampanga Industrial Park Corp. office at the GR Bank Business Center here.

"The lease agreement is for a period of 25 years with assurance of an annual increase in land rent," Monclin said.

"(The farmers) are our partners in this pioneering project," he said.

Monclin said the project is in line with Republic Act 9367 or Biofuels Act of 2006 that President Arroyo signed last Jan. 17.

" It is part of the Philippine government’s commitment to the Declaration on East Asian Energy Security that President Arroyo and 15 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ratified during the 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu," he said.

He said the Biofuels Act aims to "reduce dependence on imported fuels with due regard to the protection of public health, the environmental and natural ecosystems consistent with the country’s sustainable economic growth that would expand opportunities for livelihood by mandating the use of biofuels."

Monclin said ECFC’s technology is environmentally sound and complies with the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts of the Philippines as well as with all existing requirements of the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement on the reduction of harmful gasses.

He said his company is also serious in helping improve the lives of farmers and their communities and is committed to develop a "strong corporate social responsibility program."

"Decent employment, farm improvement, standby credit during calamities, health and education assistance, and sale of the plant’s excess electricity from bagasse are components of the program," he said.– With Ric Sapnu