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Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

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Typology of Farmers’ Awareness on Sustainability of Alternative Bioenergy Feedstocks in the Philippines

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.