Carbon credits eyed to finance corn post-harvest projects

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Carbon credits from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) are being eyed to finance environment-friendly, biomass-run post-harvest and bulk handling facilities for the country’s corn industry.

CDM project organizer Seedlinks Phils. Inc. (SPI) said it is preparing a design document for post-harvest projects of the Mindanao Grain Processing Co. Inc. (MGPC). In a memorandum of agreement (MOA), SPI committed to review potential carbon credit-generating components in MGPC’s post-harvest projects which tap usual corn cob wastage as fuel for the corn-processing facility.

Sylvia Regina Araneta, SPI president , said the company will work with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on the potential registration of MGPC’s projects for obtaining carbon credits.

Carbon credits, or certified emission reductions (CER), provide ways to reduce greenhouse effect emissions on an industrial scale by capping total amount emissions and letting the market assign a monetary value to any shortfall through trading. Credits can be exchanged at the prevailing market price, and can be used to finance carbon reduction schemes between trading partners around the world.

At present, carbon credits are priced at 16.40 euros per metric ton (MT).

Roderico R. Bioco, MGPC general manager and founder of Philippine Maize Foundation, meanwhile said that five megawatts (MW) will be needed to run the proposed post-harvest facility in Isabela.

Set to be at Nappaccu Pequeno at Reina Mercedes in Cagayan Valley, the plant will accommodate corn harvest from 20,000 hectares within a 50-kilometer radius. It will have a drying capacity of 2,000 MT per day, and will benefit 10,000 corn farming families.

Isabela is in need for post-harvest facilities for a total of 180,000 hectares of corn land. There is a huge requirement for post-harvest facilities in the province, which forms part of the country’s biggest corn-producing region.