Capitol officials denied that if the province go all-out in its drive to plant Jathropa in idle lands rice production would be threatened. Jathropa Project Head Antonieto Pernia clarified that the order of the governor is very clear. Areas with 12 degrees slope are targetted for Palm oil and areas with 18 degrees slope are for Jathropa. Pernia said that the governor has strict orders that in no way will areas for food production be targetted for Jathropa. In fact, while we enjoy surplus in our rice self=sufficiency program the governor has even intensified his plant now pay later and fertilize now and pay later programs for this year.if only to emphasize that there is no substitute for food production. Pernia said that this means that the Jatropha project is a distinct program designed to increase the income of our poor farmers by putting to good use idle lands that are not suitable for food production.while mitigating environmental problems. Gov. Erico Aumentado has instructed Pernia that areas submitted for Jatropha planting but are suitable for food production must be deleted from the list of areas targetted for the program. So flatlands and areas presently used for food production are never the areas targetted for the program. Gov. Aumentado stressed that food is his primary concern. Jatropha is meant just to increase the income of farmers in the hope of assisting them during this time of global crisis. What is good is that this assistance is a long term assistance in that PNOC will buy all the Jatropha produce of our farmers for the next 25 years.

The Governor's Jatropha Project is also a major component in the rehabilitation of our watershed areas to assure us of water for our dams which will be used by our farmers to water their rice lands so it will translate to increased food production. So how can this project threaten our food production when in fact it is a component to provide more water for dams so we can irrigate more lands and therefore increase food production Pernia asked? Gov. Aumentado, during the weekly Governor Reports, showed his willingness to sit down with the members of Humabol to be able to clarify their concerns.

HUMABOL OPPOSES MASSIVE JATROPHA PROJECT

The Hugpong sa mga Mag-uumang Bol-anon (Humabol) Friday declared its unequivocal opposition to the plan to put up jathropa plantations in Bohol. In its May 1 statement, Humabol claimed the project will only worsen the shortage of lands for farmers and threaten further the food security problem. Humabol is an affiliated of the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas. The statement signed by Ruben Sobior, Humabol chairman. “The country has experienced the rice shortage project last year. There is increased dependency on imported rice for food which now accounts for 12% of the entire food consumption in the country,” Sabior said. Humabol said the problem on hunger and difficulties among farmers can only be solved by distributing lands owned by big landlords and agricultural corporations to farmers. Sabior said this is the only way to spur agricultural development in the country.

“In the face of the worsening crisis spawned by capitalism all over the globe,  priority should be given to the development of food production, nationalist industrialization and local economy,” the statement in Cebuano declared. Humabol alleged that bio-fuel which is the by-product of jathropa directly competes with agricultural production. “What they claim as abandoned or idle lands in the province being eyed for use in jathropa plantations are not really abandoned or idle,” Sabior said. Instead, he alleged that these are either pasture lands or those tilled alternately to prevent them from becoming completely barren. Some are owned by absentee landlords while others are underdeveloped because the tillers do not have the resources to develop them according to their potentials. Humabol said the support extended to farmers to entice them to plant jathropa can be better put to use by encouraging them to plant food crops. “This way the farmers will have more harvests especially if they own the land that they till,” the statement added. The group claimed that studies show that planting jathropa to huge tracts of land is not advisable. “This will spur the proliferation of pests which will be harmful to nature,” Humabol added.

The use of non-organic pesticides will add more to the problem. “Even if they apply this to land that is not devoted to rice, the pesticide residue will still seep into lands planted with food crops and water sources,” it added. Humabol warned that if more lands are allocated to jathropa, this will compete with the lands devoted to food and destroy the remaining forests like what happened in other places. While it is true that jathropa will open employment opportunities for some, more will be deprived of land to till. Worse, the farmers do not enjoy the protection on the price of their product because the market is monopolized by capitalists. “After 25 years, the land will be barren and useless,” the statement warned.