Ethanol might not have enough land

[NewsWhore]

Enrique Martinez, the director general of the State Sugar Board (CEA) said that there is not enough sugar cane fields available to supply all the ethanol projects currently under study. According to the El Caribe, Martinez said that "there are a lot of people talking about ethanol, but they are totally lacking in knowledge as to the availability of land to produce it." However, the opposite point of view has been taken by the Dominican Agro-Business Board (JAD) that is estimating that within two years ethanol production will increase sugar cane acreage by one million tareas (equivalent to 166,000 acres) without diminishing local sugar production. Nonetheless, Martinez said that he doubted that a private consortium could obtain so much land for the production of ethanol. He did say, however, that by joining all of the lands of the Sabana del Guabaquico, plus the lands of the old River Haina Sugar Mill in Monte Plata province, and some other lands, it would be possible to establish a new sugar mill for ethanol. He insisted that the projects involving the Boca Chica Sugar Mill and the new investors that would operate the Consuelo, Quisqueya, Porvenir and Santa Fe mills are based upon unrealistic estimates.

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