Agriculture.ph Blog

‘Ideal’ ethanol feedstock may be commercialized in 5-10 years

An “ideal ethanol” feedstock from “cellulosic ethanol” is seen as a second generation, “way of the future” feedstock that can be commercialized by the Philippines in the next five to 10 years.

A memorandum of agreement (MoA) between the Philippine Council for Advanced Science and Technology Research and Development (PCASTRD) and the the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (NIMBB) will be signed to carry out a P10 million, five-year program toward the commercial availability of cellulosic ethanol.

Cellulosic ethanol is believed to be an ideal biofuel feedstock as it uses waste materials that normally do not have economic value. It uses non-food part of crops, non-food crops like grasses, or industrial waste like wood chips, skin and pulp. This makes food security a non-issue compared to other feedstocks like corn, sugarcane, and cassava.

“It does not compete with food resources. Since cellulose cannot be digested by humans, its production does not compete with food. In comparison, sugar and starch-based ethanol are from a variety of food crops (and) require vast agricultural lands and input,” said Dr. Fidel Rey P. Nayve Jr., program leader of the “Fuel Ethanol Production from lignocellulosic Feedstocks.”

Authorities are trying to develop a local technology for this as cellulosic ethanol is already produced on a large-scale basis in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Raw materials for it are abundant and grow with hardly any production cost. Producing it does not leave any waste since plants – wood, straw – are made up mainly of cellulose, so that “the whole plant can be harvested.”

“The Philippines has plenty of agricutural residues such as rice straw, rice hulls, sugarcane bagasse, corn stover, and corn cobs as well as potential energy crops like cogon grass and talahib,” according to Nayve as reported by a report of Mervin John C. De Roma.

Aside from eliminating substantial waste, the process of producing ethanol from cellulosic materials helps reverse the adverse effects of climate change and may even earn carbon credits for its producers. A United States Department of Energy study indicated that cellulosic ethanol cuts off greenhouse gas emission by 85 percent “over reformulated gasoline,” according to De Roma.

Written by Melody Aguiba

Source: Manila Bulletin

Negros feared to lose billion-peso industry in GMO ban

ONE of the country’s largest suppliers of feeds may pull out its contract-growing operations in Negros Occidental if the Provincial Government decides to continue with the implementation of Ordinance 007, which bans entry of genetically-modified products into the province.

Joey Avila, Visayas area manager of B-MEG, a subsidiary of San Miguel Group of Companies, Friday said the company will have no choice but to suspend the contract growing and possibly transfer it to other provinces.

The company supplies 30,000 sacks of mixed feeds to contract growers of Magnolia and 100,000 sacks contracted by other poultry companies every month, he said. For Magnolia contract growers alone, B-MEG generates monthly sales of P50-70 million, Avila said.

The province is the second net exporter of poultry products in the country next to Bulacan.

The Negros Hograisers Association (NHA), Negros Occidental Poultry Raisers Association and the Association of Backyard Raisers in Negros Occidental have called on the Provincial Government to declare a moratorium on the ordinance’s implementation pending the review and possible amendments to the 2007 law.

They claimed that they incurred P.9-million in additional costs for animal feeds after the ban was enforced in April. Hogs and poultry raisers were forced to source their feed requirements from Panay which translated to an additional P2 per kilo of feeds. They consume 15 tons or 15,000 kilos of feeds daily.

NHA president Albert Lim also stressed that the indecision by the Provincial Government has caused the suspension of investments in the province, particularly in the establishment of feed mills which will not only provide livelihood opportunities but employment as well.

Meanwhile, a Department of Agriculture (DA) official claimed the implementation of the anti-GMO ordinance “will kill the strength” of the livestock and poultry industry in Negros Occidental.

DA director for Biotech Program Office Alicia Ilaga told provincial officials Friday to “weigh the consequences if they decide to fully implement the ordinance.”

Ilaga was one of the nine speakers in the five-day en banc committee hearing on the anti-GMO ordinance that culminated yesterday at the Provincial Board (PB) session hall.

She noted: “If we ban all GM products like feeds, vaccines, cotton and other products, are there organic counterparts readily available that can suffice the need of the livestock and poultry sector?”

The PB will deliberate on the pros and cons that were raised by the invited resource speakers to decide on whether or not the ordinance will be amended.

Dr. Saturnina Halos, another resource speaker, told the PB that “transition to organic is very hard and more expensive.”

Further, resource speaker Dr. Santiago Obien also said the Provincial Government will need a P3-billion budget to effectively implement the ordinance.

Halos, chairperson of the DA Biotech Advisory Team, also informed the PB that there is “no single detection kit for GM crops” thus, the use of “your kit right now could be a venue for corruption.”

Meanwhile, University of the Philippines College of Public Health dean Dr. Nina Gloriani said there are different views on the use of aspartame, a biotech product, and “anything used in over-dosage can kill.”

“GM and non-GM products can co-exist,” a fact that will be highlighted in the 4th International Conference on Biotechnology in Australia in November this year, she said.

Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on 1, 2009.

Written By George M. De La Cruz

Source: Sun Star

CBCP opposes biodiesel project in northern Luzon

THE Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has appealed to the government to stop the biodiesel project of a Japanese firm involving vast hectares of land in northern Luzon.

CBCP president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said that if the project pushes through, it will have a negative effect on landless farmers and fisher folks.

“We urged the government to counter the secession of 600,000 hectares of public lands in northern Luzon to Pacific Bio-Fields Holdings Inc. for bio-fuel to be exported to Japan,” he said.

The prelate also noted that the size of land to be used in biodiesel production is more than one half of the entire land reform target of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp).

The appeal was crafted during the two-day plenary assembly at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center in Paco, Manila over the weekend.

The biodiesel project is contained in a formal agreement between the Philippine government and the United Kingdom-based Japanese firm.

The firm is looking to put up coconut plantations in the country for the production of biodiesel.

At the same time, the CBCP also called on the government to formulate an effective implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for Carp.

The Senate and the House of Representatives passed their respective versions of Carp with extension and reform.

On June 9, the bicameral committee then finally passed a consolidated version. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will sign the bill into law on August 8.

“Legislation cannot bring about tangible and lasting benefits to the small farmers without an effective IRR with specific targets, demonstrating the government’s clear political will to see the law brought to fruition,” Lagdameo said.

He also appealed for the implementation of land acquisition and distribution (LAD) over agricultural estates immediately after Carper is signed into law.

“Favor the serious implementation of LAD over large and contentious agricultural estates immediately after Carper is signed into law (with retrospective enforcement from July 1),” he added in a statement. (FP/Sunnex)

Source: Sun Star

Miracle tree can produce fuel

THE country’s bid for the production of alternative fuel resources can be addressed by an indigenous tree, which is abundant in some parts of the Cordillera Region.

A non-government organization (NGO) based in La Trinidad, Benguet is paving the way for the mass propagation of the petroleum nut, a tree whose fruits is a good source of biofuel.

Michael Bengwayan, director of Pine Tree, an NGO that develops and implements sustainable conservation and safe livelihood practices, said about 30,000 petroleum nut seedlings have been produced and are ready for distribution.

Pine Tree initiated the mass propagation of the petroleum nut to benefit farmers and help address the global problem on climate change through the production of alternative fuel resources.

The fruit of the petroleum nut, he said, has an octane rating of 54, which is higher than that of India’s jatropha, one of the crops eyed by government as source of alternative fuel. Octane rating is the measure of how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites.

The oil produced by the petroleum nut fruits is intended for lighting and cooking purposes. When mixed with kerosene on a 3:1 ratio, 20 centiliter of the petroleum nut oil could burn for three to four hours.

A study done by the Forest Research Institute of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), petroleum nut oil contains 46 percent of gasoline-type components such as heptane (45 percent) and dihydroterpene.

Bengwayan said one petroleum nut tree could yield 15 kilograms of fruits, which could produce up to 80 cubic centiliters of oil.

Reforestation crop

What is good in petroleum nut, Bengwayan said, is that it also addresses the problem on deforestation.

Because of the fruits’ potential to produce oil, people would plant more of the tree species to produce more oil.

Farmers are being trained to grow the plant. Bengwayan said 23 farmers from the towns of Kapangan and Kibungan were trained to propagate the tree.

“Petroleum nut could be grown with other crops, so farmers need not convert the mountains to grow the tree. By planting the petroleum nut, one could grow his own energy needs,” he said.

Pine Tree maintains a nursery at Longlong, La Trinidad where petroleum nut seedlings were first mass propagated after years of researches on how to produce seedlings on a massive basis.

In 2005, Bengwayan’s group discovered wood ash can remove the gummy substance coating the seeds, which prevents these from germinating.

It was also during this time they found out the dormancy period of the petroleum nut seeds is long. It takes two and a half months for the seeds to sprout.

Petroleum nut grows abundantly in Benguet and in the borders of Mt. Province, Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya area. The tree is called apisang, abkel in Benguet; dael, dingo in Mt. Province and sagaga in Abra.

Seed banking

Since the tree is endemic only to limited areas in the country, Pine Tree is encouraging farmers to also learn to store the petroleum nut seeds.

“Seed banking is important. This will be one of the ways the indigenous peoples in the region could protect the plant from biopiracy,” Bengwayan said.

One of the reasons farmers are being encouraged and are trained to grow the plant is to prevent other nationalities from patenting the tree.

Seed banking will ensure the continuous existence of the tree in the region’s mountains.

The tree bears fruits after four years.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) was advised in 2006 to include the species of petroleum nut on the list of protected species as these are rapidly disappearing.

Written By Jane Cadalig

Source: Sun Star

Cassava is viable bioethanol feedstock

CASTILLA, Sorsogon—Cassava as a viable feedstock for bioethanol has been established and Sorsogon augurs well as a leading producer of the root crop and biofuel, according to Vice Gov. Renato Laurinaria.

“If cassava is becoming an important biofuel crop in other countries with more advanced national programs for biofuel production, our soils are also capable of large-scale production of the crop not only for food [and] livestock feeds but mainly for bioethanol,” he stressed.
FARMERS show off cassava tubers at a farm in Castilla, Sorsogon. A recent study declared cassava as a potential raw material for large-scale production of bioethanol. D. CALLEJA

Sorsogon has a vast agriculture space both in the upland and lowland areas suitable for cassava production because of evenly distributed rainfall. “We can easily come up with an area for a plantation [for] the operation of an ethanol distillery plant,” the vice governor said.

A study on cassava-based bioethanol production, commissioned by the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR), said an estimated 10,000 hectares of cassava plantation could meet the needs of an ethanol distillery plant at full capacity.

The area size is necessary to produce cassava flour for a distillery with 30 million liters capacity per year, the study conducted by the International Society for Southeast Asian Agricultural Sciences (ISSAAS) said.

“Castilla alone can already provide 5,000 hectares for this endeavor,” Laurinaria said, referring to the tracts of land his administration started to develop into cassava plantations during the later part of his incumbency as municipal mayor here.

The municipality sits on 18,620 hectares of territorial land of which 76 percent or 14,228 hectares is classified as agriculture and mostly unirrigated rice fields, coconut and root-crop plantations.

The municipality’s cassava production is sold to San Miguel Corp.’s B-MEG Feeds for its livestock feed mill in Pili, Camarines Sur.

Laurinaria’s term as mayor expired after nine years in 2007. He ran for vice governor in the local elections that same year and won.

His successor has abandoned the town’s cassava project, leaving farmers on their own and denied of the local government’s pre- and postharvest support.

“I am going to revive that cassava project on a province-wide scale, this time for bioethanol production because I was inspired by the BAR findings…into this industrial undertaking that could make Sorsogon an active participant in the national government’s initiative to make use of our agricultural crops in producing environment-friendly fuels,” he said.

It will, at the same time, provide more jobs for the local work force and income for farmers and landowners in the province, Laurinaria added.

Although agriculture products specifically grown as biofuel feedstock include several crops. Republic Act 9367, or the biofuels law, presently mandates only coconut for biodiesel and sugar cane, sweet sorghum, cassava, and corn for bioethanol.

The biofuels law took effect in 2007 and the mandated minimum blend of 1-percent coconut biodiesel or coconut- methyl ester (CME) was first implemented for all diesel engines.

The law says a 2-percent minimum blend of biodiesel should be implemented by 2009, as well as the 5-percent bioethanol for all gasoline engines. The 10-percent blend is scheduled for implementation by 2011.

Nonetheless, the E10 blend is now available in the market with sugar cane probably holding the biggest share of the market at as records from the BAR show it does best in terms of productivity compared with other sources of bioethanol.

The ISSAAS study covered all important aspects needed in producing bioethanol from cassava—from production, to postharvest, processing, marketing, organization and management, and financing.

From the point of view of financial analysis, the study considered three types of investors that would likely go into it. These are the corporate and joint venture-run cassava plantation, ethanol processing (primary and secondary) and integrated cassava plantation and ethanol production.

The ISSAAS researchers assumed that investor equity is 20 percent of the initial capital investment. They, likewise, considered  securing the remaining capital requirement through a loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines at 9.75-percent interest, payable in seven years with a grace period of three years.

The hyped-up global concern over climate change and the depleting source of fossil fuels have triggered renewed interest in biofuels. Researchers for the feasibility study have observed that cassava is becoming an important biofuel crop in China, Thailand, Brazil, and other countries with more advanced national programs for biofuel production.

Cassava earned its growing popularity through the ease of its crop management. The study says the crop needs only minimum maintenance, responds well to fertilization, is typhoon- and drought-resistant, and can be harvested year-round in areas with evenly distributed rainfall.

“In general, areas suitable for sugar-cane production are also favorable for growing cassava,” the study says.

According to the study, cassava has a very high starch-to-sugar conversion ratio. High-starch content means that the crop yields a high percentage of sugar that is needed to produce biofuel.

The study, likewise, heralded it as the cheapest among the major starch-based feedstock for ethanol production.

“Average costs of feedstock per liter of ethanol from molasses and corn are quite high, while those using sweet sorghum is comparable with that of sugar cane. Potentially, feedstock from cassava can be produced at the lowest cost. With high feedstock-yield levels, ethanol yield from cassava becomes comparably better than those from sugar  cane or sweet sorghum,” the study illustrates.

Part of a feasibility study is an analysis on the financial viability of a project. In this particular study, the researchers pointed out the sensitivities of cassava’s bioethanol production depending on the prevailing price of tubers, changes in yield levels, variation in overall production and total production cost.

“Cassava can also be the most expensive among the major feedstock depending on prevailing prices of tubers or derived products. Cassava used for food preparations are purchased at a higher price than those used for industrial purposes,” it revealed.

Generally, the study’s computation shows that a 10-percent increase in tuber yield will increase the average net income by 32.5 percent. On overall production, slight reductions of at least 5 percent in production cost will increase average net income by 10.1 percent, return on investment by 2.3 percent, and shorten the payback period to less than a year.

“The major components of cost are direct labor cost [44.6 percent] and direct materials [30.4 percent]. The biggest cost item for direct materials is the cost of fertilizer [73.9 percent] while harvesting expenses accounts for the larger fraction of direct labor costs,” it added.

Written by Danny O. Calleja

Source: Business Mirror

Biofuel producer eyes expansion in Sarangani

A BIOFUEL producer has shifted into high gear as it seeks more expansion areas for production of jatropha curcas, locally called tuba-tuba, in General Santos City and Sarangani.

Marc V. Gulle, manager of Eco Global Bio-Oils Inc., said the company hopes to lure members of the B’laan and Tagakaolo tribes to plant jatropha in their 74,000-hectare freshly-titled ancestral lands in the town of Malungon.

“[We are] proud to note that the company now has a plantation size of 11,349 hectares of jatropha and is bent to surpass [the] target,” he said.

The company’s initial target is the 100,000-hectare property in Malungon. It is planning to expand the area to 200,000 hectares in the next two years, with General Santos City as part of the expansion area.

Gulle said the firm’s long range plan is to build a bio-diesel plant and intensifying jatropha plantation expansion will complement the plan.

In the recent visit of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to South Korea, she brought home investment commitments of as much as $175 million from Eco Solution Co Ltd for a jathropa plantation project in parts of Central Mindanao region.

Eco Global is an affiliate of Eco Solution.

Gulle said the firm has acquired 6.8 hectares for its jatropha oil extraction plant site in Barangay Bawing in General Santos City.

In her latest visit to Central Mindanao about two weeks ago, Arroyo noted the B’laan and Tagakaolo tribes’ area in Malungon are among the best suitable locations in the region for the development of jatropha plantations.

This is the reason we pushed the fast processing of the certificate of ancestral domain titles of the tribes in Malungon, the President said.

“We want them to be a part of these positive developments,” Arroyo said.

The President has personally awarded the CADTs of the B’laan and Tagakaolo tribes in Malungon, which covers a total area of 74,804 hectares.

The newly titled ancestral lands will benefit 52,110 B’laan and Tagakaolo tribal residents in the area.

Other expansion sites eyed by Eco Global in Sarangani for jatropha production include the towns of Alabel for 10,000 hectares and Maasim and Kiamba for a combined 16,000 hectares.

The company also hopes to develop at least 1,100 hectares ancestral lands in General Santos City as production areas for jatropha, a rich source of biodiesel.

The country has approved in January 2007 Republic Act (RA) 9367 or the Biofuels Act of 2006, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.

Source: Sun Star

Group wants toll manufacturing arrangement for biodiesel products

THE Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) may enter into a toll-manufacturing arrangement with Laguna-based Atson Coco Inc. for biodiesel production.

Incoming CIIF president and chief executive officer Jesus Arranza told reporters yesterday that the toll manufacturing agreement is something he wants to pursue once he assumes office.

“I’ve already talked to Atson Coco and they’ve expressed interest in a toll manufacture agreement. We may sign an agreement as soon as I assume office,” said Arranza.

Under the planned arrangement, CIIF will supply Atson Coco’s plant in San Pablo, Laguna with crude-coconut oil for processing. The plant is capable of producing 50 metric tons of biodiesel per day. “It may seem small, but it’s better than zero,” said Arranza.

The incoming CIIF chief saidthe plan is to distribute biodiesel to oil companies like Shell, Petron and other smaller companies.

Written by Jennifer A. Ng

Source: Business Mirror

UPLB continues search for most viable biofuel

Of all locally grown possible sources of biofuel, sugarcane has emerged as the most immediate and readily available bio-ethanol source, a UP Los Baños expert said.

UPLB College of Engineering and Agro-industrial Technology -Department of Chemical Engineering Chair and UPLB’s Alternative Energy Research, Development, and Engineering team convenor Rex Demafelis based his assessment on parameters that the team has developed to test the viability of biofuels.

The parameters consist of availability of sources, cost-effectiveness of production, optimal use of land, and the impact on communities near the alternative fuel source.

Demafelis said the viability studies looked into the manufacture of other value-added products made from biofuel, such as processed food, handicraft, clothing material, etc. thereby generating other livelihood opportunities.

He said that some agencies have noted the potential of sugarcane and have embarked on a project for the study of sugarcane as a source of bio-ethanol. At present, there are six different sites all over the country for bio-ethanol production from sugarcane, covering over 60,000 hectares of land.

The sites were established by various alternative fuel companies under the Agribusiness Lands Investment Center, which was established by the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Demafelis said that with the system of sugarcane production established in the country since the Spanish period and with current available technology, it would not be difficult to have a sizeable production of bio-ethanol in the country and cited the case of Brazil.

According to the March 16, 2009 issue of TIME Magazine, Brazil produces around $25 billion worth of sugarcane, and is the world’s largest producer of bio-ethanol. The global shift to biofuels has pumped the economy of the South American country, now considered among the emerging economies called the BRIC, or Brazil-Russia-India-China.

Republic Act 9367, or the 2006 Biofuels Act, mandated UPLB to lead in the research and development of biofuels. Thus, the University formed the UPLB Alternative Energy RDE Team. Then in 2007, the UPLB, under the National Biofuel Program, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Philippine National Oil Company-Alternative Fuels Corporation (PNOC-AFC) to conduct research focused on developing jatropha as a source of biodiesel, and sweet sorghum and cassava for bio-ethanol.

Studies into these sources entailed going into the reaction of the plants to different environments, climates, and pests. The UPLB team has since considered sweet potatoes, sugarcane, coconuts, and even malunggay and sunflower seeds for bio-ethanol.

Jatropha, considered an ideal source of biodiesel, has initially gained popularity for being a low-maintenance and fast-yielding crop. However, as research in jatropha only began after 2006, no scientific confirmation is yet available. The plant, known locally as tubang bakod or tuba-tuba, was planted in marginal lands as degraded grasslands, denuded uplands, lahar-affected areas, and even in mine-silted areas or near old mining sites.

Jatropha can also be used to produce herbal medicines, insecticides, and organic fertilizer. Should the results of studies on the plant be favorable according to the parameters, areas in the country that can be devoted to jatropha-planting and jatropha biodiesel production will be identified.

Biofuels, a more environment-friendly and renewable alternative to fossil fuels, according to Demafelis, are divided into two categories: Bio-ethanol and biodiesel. Bio-ethanol is produced by converting the starch from a given plant into sugars and fermenting and distilling these sugars into ethanol. Biodiesel is produced by mixing the oils and fats from certain plants with alcohol and a catalyst resulting in glycerol, which is then used as a petroleum additive.

Source: Manila Bulletin

AAC wastewater eyed as fertilizer

THE management of the 10-hectare Asian Alcohol Corporation (AAC) has commissioned experts and scientists to conduct experiments on the plant’s wastewater.

Engr. Joeray Yson, wastewater treatment plant head, said the experts were specifically asked to conduct experiments on the processing or converting the wastewater into foliar or liquid fertilizer.

“The experiments by the experts have been ongoing already for one year and are exclusively done on sugarcane crops,” Yson said.

He said the experiments, which are conducted at AAC’s one-hectare owned lot planted to sugarcane as crop samples, are being backed up with biotechnology.

AAC is establishing the project in Negros Occidental as a duplication of other existing related projects, such as in Batangas and Pampanga distilleries. Its experimentation site is located at Barangay Bagroy in Bago City.

Yson said the undertaking is the management’s commitment to meeting standards required by environment agencies.

AAC uses molasses as raw material in the processing of alcohol whose end products are ejected already as wastewater which is black-strap nature.

Yson said molasses, being an end product of sugarcane, is organic and the possibility of converting it as a fertilizer, after successful series of experimentation, would probably fit the culture of sugarcane crops, “perhaps, because of its affinity to the crop.”

The wastewater is 95 percent water and five percent are those organic matter or substances that are non-pathogenic, meaning they do not have the capacity to cause a disease.

A group of protesting local residents and fisherfolk strongly opposed the barging of slabs and effluents from the plant’s wastewater plant.

The group said the plant causes water and air pollution, and even health complications like pneumonia, tuberculosis, asthma, skin irritations. The fishermen also said there is a decline in fish catch and incidence of fish kills due to the plant’s operation.

Yson said that before the protesters barge the wastewater, which is 300 meters away from the shoreline, it already underwent treatment. He said with the latest experiment, the management hopes it will yield positive result and will finally use the wastewater into more effective use.

As to the reported damaged pipe, Engr. Rachel Cawit, pollution control officer, said that if water supply to the plant cannot be resumed, the management has no other means of controlling “risks” that may occur anytime when the plant’s operation totally shuts off.

At present, the plant operates on a very low and limited level because the methane reactor tanks have higher risk of exploding should water level demand is not maintained sufficiently.

“With enough water, the plant’s processing methods are sufficiently enough to generate electricity which also facilitates the biodegradation process,” Yson said.

But if enough water supply cannot be achieved, biodegradation process is affected, resulting in the accumulation of organic bacteria. Once the bacteria accumulate inside a methane reactor tank, biogas is produced and it will react to heat and might explode.

AAC has been building its fifth methane reactor tank but due to the ongoing impasse with the local residents, it suspended its construction amid fears of water supply loss.

The plant consumes a daily average of 100,000 liters of water but when its polyethylene pipe of about eight meters was cut Monday night, the plant temporarily stopped operations.

AAC legal counsel Roger Reyes said the company will file criminal charges against those responsible for the “deliberate” cutting of the pipe.

Residents of Barangays Canusa and Zone 6, who mostly benefited from a free water supply from the AAC, were also affected by the cutting of the pipe.

Source: Sun Star

With deforestation remaining unabated and the demand for quality wood on the rise, the success of efforts to regain Philippine forest cover may lie in the quality of seedlings being planted to replace lost vegetation.

The UPLB College of Forestry and Natural Resources (CFNR) has been pursuing this track of providing quality forest trees and other plants via tissue culture.

“We want planting materials that grow very fast and perform very well under adverse conditions in the field. Although the work now is still in the experimental stages, the commercial scale production of quality forest species may soon be realized,” said Dr. Portia Lapitan, director of the UPLB Forest Biotechnology Program.

A tree physiologist and forest geneticist, Dr. Lapitan believes that biotechnology is necessary to meet the increasing demands for planting stocks. As of now, the Philippines is said to need an estimated 195.4 million seedlings a year to meet the annual planting target for 100,000 hectares.

At present, there are not enough existing seed sources of forest species for reforestation and production in the country.

At the UPLB campus, the program’s modest laboratory is home to hundreds of glass bottles with tiny, cloned seedlings of various tree and non-tree species growing in modified Murashige and Skoog media. The Forest Biotechnology Laboratory has been operational since 2002 and has produced a number of valuable seedlings, all of which have been grown from tissue culture.

The seedlings come from germinated seeds of trees with superior quality. The tissue-cultured seedlings are expected to reach maturity earlier and perform better than the conventionally raised trees. They also retain the quality of the mother tree, including its disease and pest resistance.

The Forest and Biotechnology Program has developed tissue culture protocols for Acacia mangium (mangium), Gmelina arborea (yemane), Paraserianthes falcataria (falcata, Moluccan sau), Tectona grandis (teak), and Calamus (rattan) species.

Future work will include species such as the Falcata tree (Paraserianthes falcataria), Jathropa, and the Moringa tree, commonly known as “malunggay.” These will be developed to answer the need for sources of bio-fuel in the country.

According to Dr. Lapitan the protocol for out-planting still has to be refined in order to ensure higher seedling survival. She and her team of scientists and researchers are now working to perfect the breeding and biotechnology work to develop and produce planting materials in order to meet the demand for reinstating the country’s forests and tree plantations.

Written By BERNICE P. VARONA

Source: Manila Bulletin