NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines — The country’s wish to produce bioethanol within the fastest time possible may yet be achieved, if talks to establish a 1,000-hectare sweet sorghum plantation in Negros Occidental are realized.

Philippine National Oil Co.-Alternative Fuels Corp. (PNOC-AFC) officials are in talks with some people in the province to carve out the sweet sorghum enclave in the sugar-producing zones within the province.

Sweet sorghum production requires between P45 million –P75 million in investments, with production cost estimated at P30,000 to P50,000 per hectare.

The crop will produce the syrup for ethanol production at San Carlos Bioenergy Inc.'s (SCBI) plant in San Carlos City.

At a yield of 2,500 liters per hectare, 1,000 hectares can produce as much as 2.5 million liters of ethanol annually.

The PNOC-AFC is eager to invest in the plantation project since both the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB) and the Don Mariano Marcos State University (DMMSU) have discovered that sweet sorghum can be used as bioethanol feedstock.

Prof. Rex B. Demafelis, who is UPLB Alternative Energy Research, Development, and Extension (RDE) Convenor as well as chair of the UPLB Energy Systems Committee, has confirmed the viability of sweet sorghum.

The Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) was instrumental in proving the viability of sweet sorghum as bioethanol feedstock after funding the agronomic research and interagency coordination required to push the program.

“It was my terms of reference with BAR director Dr. Nicomedes Eleazar that made it easier to facilitate the mainstreaming of sweet sorghum as a complementary feedstock for bioethanol,” Demafelis revealed.

He emphasized the need for PNOC-AFC to first conduct a feasibility study to validate previous studies done as well as site specificity analysis before any engagement is made.

Those, he said, require approval by the PNOC-AFC’s board and the PNOC mother board’s.

Demafelis said he is confident that before 2012 ends, a feasibility study shall have been finished.

With a feasibility study proving the viability of such a plantation, a MOA may subsequently be signed by PNOC-AFC and SCBI.

When realized, the plantation will generate jobs either in the available uplands of San Carlos City or in adjacent municipalities.

“The challenge to farmers is to plant sweet sorghum instead of sugarcane. This is a perfect complement crop to sugarcane because the identified uplands have not been planted at all with sugarcane, so now people will start earning from them,” said Demafelis.