2009 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Study on the potential of bio-fuel production and the sustainability of developing countries in Asia

Research Project

Project/Area Number	19780166
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Agro-economics
Research Institution	Chiba University
Principal Investigator	MARUYAMA Atsushi Chiba University, 大学院・園芸学研究科, 准教授 (90292672)
Project Period (FY)	2007 – 2009
Keywords	バイオ燃料 / フィリピン / 農家調査 / 農家意識 / 生産分析 / サトウキビ / ココナッツ
Research Abstract	This study examined the production structure of energy crops, such as sugarcane and coconuts, in the Philippines, and discussed political conditions to achieve the goal of sustainable production of the crops in terms of the environment as well as economic development. The results of frontier production analyses show that technical extension policies, like production training programs, for sugarcane farmers is not effective so much since the average of technical efficiencies has already reached high. On the other hand, the technical efficiency of coco-farmers is relatively low, and therefore, the good practices of coco-farming should be spread among them. The root problem of coco-production, however, is the age of coconut trees. Old trees should be replaced by young ones to increase production sustainably in the long-run. Furthermore, we should pay special attention to farmers' perception of biofuel and their constraints for production increase.