The government wants farmers to plant crops for biofuels on a vast scale. But could the quest for green energy create food shortages? Growing world energy demand, the insecurity of long-term supply and the consequences of fossil fuel use for climate change are driving governments to look for alternatives. To meet rising energy needs, many countries are promoting the production and use of biofuels - energy extracted as a gas, liquid or oil from plants.
The government wants farmers to plant crops for biofuels on a vast
scale. But could the quest for green energy create food shortages?
Growing
world energy demand, the insecurity of long-term supply and the
consequences of fossil fuel use for climate change are driving
governments to look for alternatives. To meet rising energy needs, many
countries are promoting the production and use of biofuels - energy
extracted as a gas, liquid or oil from plants.
Derived from food crops such as corn, sugarcane, soybean, oil palm and sugarbeet, biofuel production has been on the rise in recent years. It is seen by many as a clean form of energy in an era of soaring oil prices and concerns over carbon emissions.
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Jatropha, a plant originating in
Central America that grows wild in many developing countries, including
South Africa, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and the
Philippines, has suddenly found itself at the centre of a new phase in
the world's alternative energy boom.
In the Philippines, there
is currently much hype surrounding its production as a source of
renewable fuel. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed
into law the Biofuels Act which mandates a minimum one per cent
biodiesel blend and five per cent bioethanol blend in all diesel and
gasoline fuels. To meet demand, the government is aggressively pushing
for the cultivation of jatropha, believing it to be one of the best
candidates for future biofuel production.
The government,
through the Philippine National Oil Co.-Alternative Fuels Corp, is now
looking at some 1.2 million hectares for jatropha production in the
southern island of Mindanao. It is also busy identifying more than
400,000 hectares of land for private sector investments.
Jatropha
curcas is a drought-tolerant non-edible shrub. It produces fruits the
size of golf balls which contain oil that can be converted into
biodiesel, a substitute for fossil fuel.
According to Rhandy
Tubal, research specialist at the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources in Cordillera, farmers who have received training to grow
jatropha are enthusiastic about the crop. He says the cultivation of
the plant could provide the first step out of poverty for Filipino
farmers and claims that, depending on the density of the plants, each
hectare can yield jatropha oil worth nearly US$2,000 a year.
"We
are in the initial stage of planting jatropha and we are very
optimistic that it is indeed one of the best candidates for biofuel.
Farmers are very excited about its production," Tubal says, adding that
only idle land would be used for jatropha planting to avoid competition
with other crops.
However, research from Australia suggests the
plant will need more intensive inputs to produce the oil used for
biofuels and it can take several years to develop optimum yields.
Furthermore, some experts warn the move may use up precious land that
could
be used to grow food and may eventually hurt subsistence
farmers. Concerns over possible future food shortages have generated a
‘food versus fuel’ debate in the country.
Rachel Smolker, a
biofuels specialist and research biologist for the US-based
environmental group the Global Justice Ecology Project, fears the
global rush to switch from oil to energy derived from plants will drive
deforestation, push small farmers off the land and lead to serious food
shortages and increased poverty unless carefully managed.
"If
food sources become biofuels, that may lead to shortages and raise
prices. The promotion of biofuels will have an impact on local food
security as some fuel crops are also food crops," Smolker says.
Her
view is echoed by Philippine Senator Miriam Santiago, author of the
2007 Biofuels Act, who has sought more governmental oversight of
biofuels development, saying that backing biofuels could adversely
affect the country's ability to produce its own food.
"Biofuel
is land-based and will eventually compete with food. Because the
Philippines has a small land area, biofuel production will tend to
encroach on food production. Corporations are already searching for
millions of hectares for jatropha alone. We have to step on the brakes
and decelerate," she says.
Santiago thinks the Philippines
"will not prosper by betting only on the biofuels option". She says the
government should explore other alternative energy sources such as
wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal and biomass.
But the
Philippines' Environment Secretary Lito Atienza has defended the
government's massive jatropha cultivation for the biofuels programme,
saying it will not imperil the country's food supply.
"Jatropha
is a non-food crop. So the issue over food versus fuel is not a debate
about this crop. Jatropha grows on idle lands, particularly denuded
mountains and forests, unfit for food crop cultivation, so it will not
compete with land used for the production of food," Atienza says.
Widespread
jatropha cultivation is fairly new in the Philippines. It is only
recently, with the news that jatropha can be a source of biodiesel,
that people have started planting larger areas of the crop.
All
the more reason, according to Dr Emil Javier, president of the National
Academy of Science and Technology, to check out its credentials. "The
Philippines should do its homework and conduct thorough research on
jatropha and see its viability compared with other alternative crops,"
he says.
The challenge, believes Achim Dobermann, a scientist
from the Philippine-based International Rice Research Institute, is to
ensure a balance between food and biofuel production. "There is an
urgent need to strengthen policy research in order to avoid decisions
that may lead to competition between food and bioenergy."
Imelda
V Abano is a freelance reporter based in Bagio, in the northern
Philippines. She wrote this article as a result of a fellowship awarded
by the Climate Change Media Partnership – a collaboration of Panos,
Internews and IIED which supports journalists to investigate climate
change issues.