Sunday, December 6, 2009

PART 4 of 6: FARMS FOR SLUMS PROGRAM
8) First LME industry for thousand-member employee groups: ethanol distilleries with sweet sorghum plantations. According to Brazilian experience, an ethanol distillery fed by sugarcane profits at an astonishing 80% of sales! Since sweet sorghum is sweeter than sugar cane and can be cropped twice or thrice a year thru ratooning (sugarcane harvests occur only once a year), Philippine sweet sorghum-fed distilleries will tend to have even higher profit margins than those of Brazil. Markets are no problem. E75 fuel (75% ethanol, 25% gasoline) can be priced at less than half that of pure gasoline, a boon to local transport industries. A 40,000 liters-per-day ethanol distillery with sweet sorghum plantation requires around $10 million in capital. LME funds required is only $2.5 million (in peso equivalent). The foreign partner contributes another $2.5 million. Equipment manufacturers’ banks or foreign government banks may supply $5 million in distillery equipment loans. This arrangement enables the Philippine employee mass to set up hundreds of distilleries all over the Philippines, with expansion plans all over the tropics. This industry when mature can yield billions of dollars in monthly salaries and dividends to the Philippine employee masses.
9) Second LME industry: manufacture of Ethanol-powered engines (E75) to replace carbon-spewing gasoline and diesel engines in local land and sea transports. Employee group joint ventures may set up the factories plus hundreds of transport service companies (buses, taxis, cars for hire, cargo trucks, boats and launches) all over Southeast Asia. This industry once mature can add more billions of dollars monthly to the Philippine masses.
10) Third LME industry: managed forests with livestock feedlots. Many species of forest trees have leaves that contain 20% protein. Same with leguminous grasses. Such leaves and grasses may replace the expensive protein sources (soybean meal, fish meal and bone meal) in commercial feeds. Local sourcing also prevents expensive transport and preservation, another cost cutter. An employee union of several thousand members may lease a thousand hectares of bald uplands and convert 80% of area to forest and 20% to paddocks, feedlots, leguminous grasslands and corn/sorghum croplands. The farm targets raising of mixed breed goats, cattle, sheep, pigs, and fowls by the thousands. The livestock yields short-term income as forest trees grow. Over the long run, the forests produce woods, bamboo and rattan for lumber, paper and furniture, tons of fruits, honey, mushrooms, orchids, ornamental plants, drug ingredients, etc. Restaurateurs and food processors from Coastal Asia may partner with the locals and engage in contract production of food and drug ingredients. The scheme may be expanded by the employee unions throughout the tropics not only for job and wealth creation for the poor but also to help diminish global warming on massive scale. Tropics-wide operation of such managed forests and livestock farms adds more billions of dollars monthly to the Philippine employee mass.
11) Fourth LME industry: Tour boat fleets. World companies engaged in travel, tours, and resort development may partner with local LME beneficiary groups to set up tour boat fleets. A fleet may be composed of ten or so trawler-type boats, recreational boats, converted ferries and yachts, plus marine sports equipment. Yachting groups in the USA and Europe may partner with the local groups as well. The ethanol engine producers may install E75 engines to the boats to reduce fuel costs by more than half. Low-priced tours should attract millions of tourists. The fleets may tour all coastal resorts throughout Southeast Asia. Such fleets should add more billions of dollars monthly to the Philippine employee mass.
12) Fifth LME industry: Forest resorts. LME-type joint ventures may lease thousand-hectare bald island areas in Southeast Asia and convert them into forest resorts with ‘flowery cliff’ camouflaged hotels, inns, vacation and retirement condos, commercial buildings and sports facilities. The camouflage makes the resort ‘disappear’ into the forest, thereby attracting millions of tourists who want both unspoiled nature reserves and the latest living comforts of a ‘hidden city’. The role of forest resorts in reducing global warming plus tourist dollars coming in should persuade Southeast Asian governments to agree to thousand-hectare land leases for each joint venture. Resort construction and services at such scale should add more billions of dollars monthly to the Philippine employee mass.

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