Agriculture Business Week

In three years, chickpea(Cicer arietinum L.), a very nutritious legume and a potential source of biofuel, would become on alternative high-value crop of the Cordillera Administrative Region(CAR).

The farmers in North Luzon are now learning the latest technology on chickpea production through the P9-million Philippine Chickpea Project of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), Benguet State University (BSU), and the Department of Agriculture-Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR).

According to Dr. Myer Mula of DACAR and Dr. Fernando R. Gonzales of BSU, the proponents of the project, the project aims to promote the cultivation of chickpea, or garbanzos, as an alternative commercial crop over the next three years because it will have a significant niche in the food economy of the households, especially in the Cordillera where the daytime temperature of 70°F - 80°F and the night time temperature of nearly 65°F is suitable for the production of edible legumes like chickpea. In doing so, its commercial production would stabilize and sustain the livelihood productivity of CAR.

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Posted on November 28th, 2008 under Going Green, Other Crops. Tags: Biofuel, Chickpea. Comments: None

Agri-waste could be a valuable resource.

Take the case of Cecilia Stock Farm (CSF), a large-scale piggery in Barangay Mahayag, Bunawan District in Davao City that sources its power from the methane gas emitted from pig manure.

Teresita Pascual, the CSF’s general manager said the bio-methane plant recently established in their farm can produce 300 kilowatt of electricity per day from the manure of 15,000 pigs.

Since the establishment of their farm in the `80s, Pascual said they had seen the potential of converting pig manure into renewable energy.

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Posted on November 22nd, 2008 under Climate Change, Going Green, Livestock. Tags: Biogas, Energy, Manure, Pigs/Hogs, Wastes. Comments: None

Wind is simply air in motion. It is caused by the sun’s uneven heating of the Earth’s surface. This happens when the Earth’s surface which is made of different types of land and water; absorbs the sun’s heat at different rates. The presence of clouds can also locally reduce the effectiveness of the sun’s rays.

During the day, the air above the land heats up faster than the air over water. The warm air over the land expands and rises up in the atmosphere, and the heavier, cooler air rushes in to take its place, creating winds. At night, the small-scale winds are reversed because the air is getting cool more rapidly over land than over water.

In the same way, the large scale atmospheric winds that circle the Earth are created because the land and sea near the earth’s equator is heated more by the sun than the land and sea near the North and South Poles.

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Posted on November 19th, 2008 under Going Green. Tags: Wind. Comments: None

Bronzeoak Philippines’ Jose Maria T. Zabaleta talks about the first Integrated Ethanol Distillery and Power Cogeneration Plant in the country.

Last 2006, Jose Maria T. Zabaleta was the executive director of the Philippine Sugar Millers Association, (PSMA) Inc. and eagerly spoke about his being an advocate of the use of sugarcane as a source of energy and fuel ethanol.

Today, the dynamic Zabaleta wears a different hat. As President and COO of Bronzeoak Philippines and Chairman of the San Carlos Bioenergy, Inc., the maverick businessman talks about sugarcane in a different light. It’s no longer just a mere crop from which we sweeten our foods, but also as potent source of fuel and electricity.

Together with Ms. Sheva Mehrabi, Bronzeoak Philippines’ corporate communication and marketing officer, Mr. Zabaleta giddily shared with us the huge and bright potentials of his latest project-the San Carlos Bioenergy, Inc.

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Posted on November 16th, 2008 under Going Green, Other Crops. Tags: Bio-Ethanol, Sugar, Sugarcane. Comments: None

San Pabloc City-based Rasza Agro Produce Corporation (RAPC), a manufacturer of coconut oil products in Laguna, has become the Department of Science and Technology’s first private sector technology licensee to commercially produce coco-methyl ester (CME), a diesel fuel additive from coconut. The non-exclusive licensing agreement was recently entered with the Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI).

The licensing agreement allows RAPC to produce CME for five years starting November last year. It was signed by Dr. Nuna Almanzor, ITDI director and Romulo M. Awayan, RAPC president. Under the agreement, ITDI provides the technical assistance required for the establishment and operation of a CME plant in Laguna, while RAPC will provide the necessary investment for the land, building, equipment, and working capital for the operation of a CME facility. It will also handle the marketing of the products.

The CME biofuel produced by the technology developed by ITDI has zero sulfur content which reduces hydrocarbon, soot and particulate matters when used in engines. DOST says that it has lesser greenhouse gas emission and is biodegradable. It also has superior lubricity and detergency properties, safe on storage, and is non-toxic. It operates on conventional engines and can be used alone or blended with diesel.

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Posted on October 23rd, 2008 under Going Green, Other Crops. Tags: Biofuel, CME, Coconut. Comments: None

Tacloban City-Philippine National Oil Company-Alternative Fuels Corporation (PNOC-AFC) Chairman Renato S. Velasco, Ph.D. has commended the people of Basey, Samar for their collective efforts to jumpstart jatropha planting in Eastern Visayas.

He visited the municipality of Basey in Samar to grace the First General Assembly of The Baktas Kabud’wason Association, an organization of Basaynons pushing for jatropha cultivation. He said that the group is one of the most organized in the Visayas, and that 50 barangays of Basey are now planting jatropha.

“Basey now has some 71,424 shrubs planted in 28,000 hectares, distributed in 32 out of its 51 barangays,” says Teodorico D. Porbus, Baktas Kabud’wason Association president.

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Posted on October 13th, 2008 under Going Green, Other Crops. Tags: Biofuel, Jatropha. Comments: None