The sugar industry in the Visayas would be the main beneficiary of the shift to ethanol as an alternative to the more expensive gasoline and diesel.

This assessment was made yesterday by Felixberto Monasterio, who spoke on behalf of sugar growers in a press briefing sponsored by the Philippine Fuel Ethanol Alliance (PFEA) yesterday.

Monasterio said the industry is in the best position to push the ethanol program since may sugar plantations can expand production to answer rising demand for the fuel.

The country is also producing more sugar and the last time it imported sugar was in 2002. Better sugar prices in the world market today have boosted the confidence of growers in planting the crop and expanding their plantations.

Monasterio added that while the industry could answer bulk of the demand for ethanol, the Department of Agriculture (DA) must also develop other feedstock for ethanol like corn, cassava and sweet sorghum.

He noted that the country is actually importing corn even as there has been a vigorous campaign to introduce and expand the production of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn that resists pests and diseases and are fortified with nutrients through genetic engineering.

Within the next five years, biotechnologists say corn production would rise tremendously, up from the 4.82 million tons produced in the country today.

Monasterio stressed that plans are also afoot to develop the machinery needed for the production of ethanol, which has ready markets in the United States, Japan and nearby countries.

Integrated sugar mills in Brazil and other countries produce sugar, ethanol and even electricity.

These mills eventually profit from all three products unlike mills in the Philippines that are oriented mainly in producing raw sugar.

Monasterio said ethanol production would boost the economies of plantation areas, adding that a typical plant producing 100,000 liters per day (lpd) would require an investment between R700 million and R1 billion.

Nearly R900 million in operating expanses would be plowed to the provincial economy while between P700 million and P800 million would go to the farmers who sell their cane.

Such a mill would also require 450,000 tons of canes from plantations. It is a ready market for farmers who cultivate between 5,500 hectares and 9,000 hectares of land.

Small farmers numbering between 500 and 600 would be the direct beneficiaries of the mill.