Typology of Farmers’ Awareness on Sustainability of Alternative Bioenergy Feedstocks in the Philippines
Abstract
The paper presents an analysis of bioenergy potential in the Philippines by understanding farmers’ perceptions on sustainable bioenergy production. It focuses on the opinions of farmers for both first generation (i.e. sugar-rich crops, starch-rich crops and oil-rich crops) and second generation (i.e. agriculture/forest residues, fast-growing trees, and perennial grasses) bioenergy crops, which are being or can be used for the production of biodiesel and bioethanol. Such an assessment is critical for many developing countries including the Philippines due to its impact on food security, particularly as a result of the negative effects of bioenergy feedstock production and processing on increasing water scarcity and agricultural land pressure. Moreover, farmers play a key role in the production of biomass feedstock for bioenergy, so it is important to understand their level of awareness on the effects of bioenergy on food security and economy. Field survey was conducted with farmers in three regions including Calabarzon, Central Visayas and Davao. The paper presents the results of the cluster analysis, which was applied to determine the socio-economic profiles that characterize the opinions of the farmers. The survey results showed that there are differences in the level of awareness of the farmers in the different regions in the Philippines and these were categorized into four typologies, such as unaware, less awareness, moderate awareness and high awareness. Farmers with unaware typology were located in Calabarzon and Davao, large number of farmer with low to moderate awareness were found in Calabarzon and farmers with high awareness were located in Central Visayas.
A better understanding of human perception on the sustainability issues confronting bioenergy will help develop appropriate policy for promising renewable energy sources. PIC-STRAP project aims to contribute to this challenging task through application of integrated assessment modelling approach called STRAP (Sustain-ability TRade-offs and Pathways), which highlights social perception and policy preferences. PIC-STRAP's specific objectives are: (1) to systematise existing knowledge on sustainability of bioenergy; (2) to understand social perception on and policy preferences for different feed-stocks; (3) to determine society's sustainability trade-off decisions in the use of resources; (4) to assess alternative pathways in bioenergy development and their effects on sustainable low carbon society transition, and (5) to facilitate the integration and dissemination of the gener-ated knowledge. PIC-STRAP case study countries include the Philip-pines, India and China where bioenergy is considered a promising sector to improve energy security and thus " fuel " economic growth. Online and field surveys are being conducted in these Asian countries to understand knowledge and opinion on bioenergy. Preliminary survey results show that most respondents in the Philip-pines think that bioenergy and other renewables have high and very high contribution to the economy (Table 1). In China many respondents consider fossil fuel as an important source of energy. Among first-generation feedstocks, starch-rich crops are more favoured in China and oil-rich crops in the Philippines. The latter reflects the perceived potential of coconut for bioenergy. Among second-generation feedstocks, agriculture/forest residues and fast-growing trees are considered high/ very high potential energy sources both in China and the Philippines. More respondents in China do not know the contribution of first-generation feedstock, while those in the Philippines of second-generation feedstock.
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