LUCENA, Quezon—Shell International is shelling out about $150,000 (roughly P7.9 million, to finance the three-year pilot energy and livelihood sustainability project of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. (PSPC), benefiting around 150 coconut growers in the municipalities of Unisan and Agdangan.
The oil company, through its social arm Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc. (PSFI), officially signed on Wednesday with its partner JNJ Oil Industries Inc. the memorandum of agreement for the Collaboration for Coconut Productivity and Nurturing Farmers’ Trade (Coconut) Sustainable Livelihood Program.
“Project Coconut is about creating more environmentally sustainable fuels for the Philippines and more sustainable livelihood for coconut farmers by providing increased livelihood opportunities so that more Filipinos are able to provide adequately for their families,” said Edgar Veron Cruz, executive director of PSFI.
This initiative mainly seeks to secure the supply of coco methyl ester (CME), a biodiesel component that helps improve the quality of diesel fuel.
Supplying an average volume of 1.5 million liters per month of CME to PSPC via its oleochemical plant here, JNJ Oil Industries Marketing Head Jervis Jao told the BusinessMirror they hope that farmer-beneficiaries will help them produce the needed requirement of the oil company.
In return, they are guaranteed improved livelihood since Shell will purchase the biofuel raw materials from them, and the needs of the community will be supported as well.
The pioneering sites were chosen based on the project survey, which shows about 50 percent of coconut farmers are relying exclusively on coconut farming, and within the 30-day to 45-day intervals of their harvests, about 86 percent are operating below minimum wage.
Additionally, 66 percent are farming below 6 hectares of land, most of whom are tenants or non-owners of the land they farm.
For improved yields of the farmer-beneficiaries, the program will have interventions such as provision of technical and entrepreneurship training and farming tools.
To augment their economic means, there will be additional livelihood labors given to them, such as organic and intercropping and production of handicrafts from coconut bi-products.
Support for organizational development will be coursed through establishment of cooperatives and conducting workshops on financial management, leadership and values formation.
Shell International Biofuels Sustainability Compliance Officer Helen Scholey said this is not the first time they initiated such a program engaging local growers.
“This is just one example of where Shell is partnered with suppliers and stakeholders in the market in order to achieve sustainable production in our supply chain,” she said. “We work closely with farmers in Thailand as well on palm-oil farmers. We also carry out work in Indonesia and Malaysia.”
JNJ Oil Industries Inc. CEO Rolando T. Jao called for cooperation among the local growers, who stand to benefit from the program.
“You should help one another to make this project successful in your area. This is for your own good, so you must show your support and cooperation,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
Shell produces one of the lowest-CO2 biofuels available globally today through its joint venture Raízen, which makes ethanol from sugar cane in Brazil.
Brazilian sugarcane ethanol can reduce CO2 emissions by around 70 percent compared with conventional petrol.
Raízen ranks as one of the world’s largest producers of biofuels.
The multinational is also one of the largest blenders and distributers of biofuels worldwide. It purchases biofuels that are produced in a way that is environmentally and socially responsible to blend into its fuels in line with country-specific regulations.
“In 2017 Shell blended around 9 billion liters of biofuels in the petrol and diesel that we sold worldwide,” he said.