Agriculture Business Week

Four years after its introduction into the country by an India-based research center and jumpstarting R&D initiatives on the crop, sweet sorghum holds true to its promise as the best source of feedstock for ethanol production. And such claim will be further reinforced as project leaders, designated focal persons for sweet sorghum, experts, technical coordinators and evaluators and members of the stakeholders gather for the “First National Review of BAR-Funded Projects on Sweet Sorghum” on 6-7 October 2009 at the Fernando H. Lopez Hall, BSWM.

“Sweet sorghum is a promising feedstock for bio-ethanol production in the Philippines that answers both for the country’s food and energy security. Not mainly for ethanol production, its grains can also be used as food, beverage, and feed, whereas the leaves can be used for fodder. Its stem contains high amount of sugar which can be extracted by simple milling and fermented to bioethanol,” explained Director Nicomedes P. Eleazar of the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR).

BAR is conducting the national review to consolidate current efforts and activities on sweet sorghum in the Philippines, particularly R&D, as well as provide relevant information on the adaptability of the crops in the regions and its other prospects as a multi-purpose crop. On the policy side, BAR hopes that with this activity, the sector is able to develop a framework for RDE on sweet sorghum and formulate plans for immediate and long-term activities to hasten its full utilization in the country.

How sweet sorghum was introduced

In May 2005, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo launched the National Bioethanol Program in San Carlos City, Pangasinan to mark the signing of contracts for a P1.5 billion-ethanol and power generation plant, a first in the country. A year after that, Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam brought in the country several kilos of foundation seeds of sweet sorghum developed by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) for field testing and adoption which was initially funded and supported by BAR.

The enactment into law of Republic Act 9367, otherwise known as the Biofuels Act of 2006 in January 2007 prompted the government to heighten efforts to develop, produce, and distribute high-quality, reasonably-priced and environment-friendly alternative fuels. Thus, several agricultural crops were grown specifically for use as biofuels including corn, soybeans, cassava, sugarcane, sweet sorghum, coconut, and jatropha. But given the various studies conducted, sweet sorghum turned out to be the most advantageous production-, economic-, and environment-wise.

With the steady rise of fuel prices, the Arroyo administration created the Alternative Fuels Program which is one of the five key components of the Arroyo Administration’s Energy Independence Agenda. It outlines the roadmap that will lead to the country’s attainment of 60 percent energy self-sufficiency by 2010.
Initial R&D initiatives

For the Biofuels Group of DA, BAR is focused on the R&D aspects to establish technologies to sustain production tapping the country’s domestic produce as viable sources of energy.

The Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Batac, Ilocos Norte, through funding support from BAR, was the first to conduct sweet sorghum production field trials after the crop was introduced in 2005. The field tests of sweet sorghum in MMSU have shown encouraging results.

Five out of the eight varieties of sweet sorghum bred by ICRISAT and brought into the country for field testing have been found to thrive well under Philippine conditions. These are NTJ 02, SPV 422, ICSV 93046, CSR 93034, and ICSV 700. They are found to have high content of juice and good grain yield when tested at the experimental farms of MMSU. Also, the crop has provided bright prospects not only as feedstock for ethanol production, but also as food and feed grain.

Following the significant initial results of the studies, the five sweet sorghum varieties were subsequently tried in 58 other sites across the country which similarly produced encouraging, results as reported at the “First National Sweet Sorghum RD&E Review and Planning Conference” in March 2008.

Since 2005, BAR has supported R&D activities and the initial production of sweet sorghum in Ilocandia through MMSU with its vice president, Dr. Heraldo Layaoen, who is also the national team leader of the BAR’s sweet sorghum program.

The program was subsequently implemented in several areas in the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Cordilleras, Central Luzon, Bicol, and some provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao. Given its success in Ilocos Norte, and in Bicol, MMSU and the Bicol Integrated Agricultural Research Center (BIARC) developed their respective region-wide commercialization of sweet sorghum with funding and coordinative support from BAR. This included the development of village-level technologies on food products and production of molasses and organic fertilizer.

To date, BAR is coordinating and funding 16 projects all over the country. Thirteen of these projects are implemented by the RIARCS while the rest are implemented by SUCs, specifically, the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) and the Isabela State University (ISU) in addition to MMSU.

By Rita T. dela Cruz