Negros Occidental launches biofuel center

Negros Occidental province’s first jatropha oil processing and research center was launched at the government’s Technology and Livelihood Development Center to serve as a major backbone of the biofuel program in this Philippine province. Negros Occidental has some 793,000 hectares of land, 500,000 hectares of which is devoted to agriculture, while the remaining areas are either abandoned or underdeveloped, says Provincial Agriculturist Igmedio Tabianan. Tabianan said the Jatropha Processing and Research Center’s agricultural office will focus on research on the sector, while the Provincial Environment and Management Office will be responsible for possible jatropha plantation sites, aside from those found in Barangay Tabunan, Bago City. (August 16, 2009)