Agriculture Business Week

The lack of sustainable raw materials is one of the biggest problems stifling the growth of the country’s forest-based furniture and handicrafts industries. Despite this, however, the sector can still count itself fortunate.

The Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI), an agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), is doing its best to help these two industries find new raw materials to substitute for traditional but less available ones.

According to FPRDI Officer-in-Charge Felix B.Tamolang, “One of FPRDI’s core commitments is to widen the raw material base of the forest-based furniture and handicrafts industries thru pro-active research. The Institute understands how much of a headache the raw material problem can be, especially for exporters. While imported lumber is available in the market, it is usually priced beyond the reach of many SMEs.”

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Posted on June 5th, 2010 under Forest Trees, SPOTlight. Tags: Forest, Handicrafts, Trees. Comments: None

Nueva Ecija – For many years, the Kalahans earn a living only by producing fruit preserves. These native forest dwellers of the province sell their jams and jellies in supermarkets in Metro Manila. Sadly, their income hardly make ends meet, especially these hard times.

For this reason, the Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI) of the Department of Science and Technology thought of teaching these folk to make handmade paper as an added source of income. FPRDI conducted a three-day training course for this purpose and mostly housewives and students attended it.

“We taught [them] how to make handmade paper from salago bark, cogon leaves, and wild banana leave sheaths. They were surprised to learn that these raw materials that thrive in their land and have little use to them can easily be transformed into beautiful handmade paper,” said Cesar O. Austria of FPRDI.

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Posted on August 20th, 2009 under Forest Trees, Special Report. Tags: Forest, Nueva Ecija, Paper. Comments: None

It’s called Sustainable Agroforest Land Technology or SALT 3- a wise and practical answer to the rapid disappearance of our country’s forest cover

At the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation, Inc., an NGO based in Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur, trees and crops are planted together. Here, you can find a small-scale reforestation program – about two hectares -called Sustainable Agroforest Land Technology or SALT 3.

“Farmers can plant one hectare of different trees and another hectare of various crops,” explains Roy C. Alimoane, the center’s new director. “The crops provide income for the farmer and his family while waiting for the trees to grow.”
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Posted on May 1st, 2009 under Forest Trees, Other Crops. Tags: Crops, Forest, SALT, Trees. Comments: None

They say that living harmoniously with nature is the best way to live, for one will have a balanced and sustainable life. But how are we going to do this now at the age of modern technology, when almost everything is artificial and done fast?

“Achieving a balanced coexistence with nature is simply going back to the way our ancestors lived and grew food in the forests” and this should be done using modern technology to improve agroforestry, says Henry Binahon, a 47-year-old forester, farmer, and sociologist in Lantapan, Bukidnon.

This is how Henry and his wife, Perla, who is also a forester, manage their 7hectare Binahon Agroforestry Farm. It is situated along the slopes of Mt. Kitanglad, the second highest mountain in Mindanao. They believe that by being one with nature they would have sufficient farm income, healthy food, and quality environment.

The couple initially bought 5 ha in 1996, but the land was devastated. With their knowledge in forestry, and assistance from the University of the Philippines Los Banos, Bukidnon State University, provincial and municipal governments, and international environmental institutions, they were able to develop it into an agroforestry farm, and later expanded it to 7 ha.

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Posted on March 4th, 2009 under Farming, Forest Trees. Tags: Agroforestry, Forest, Fruits, Trees. Comments: None

We are now in the midst of global warming. The signs are already ominous. We can now feel the immediate effects of global warming through the climatic changes around its. Our summers are getting hotter, while the typhoons during the rainy season are increasingly getting to be fewer, but more feracious.

Green activists have been successful in their media campaigns on the reduction of greenhouse gases – mainly carbon dioxide and methane gases – by cutting down on the emission of gases and related activities. The reuse and recycling of industrial raw materials such as plastic, metal, paper, and glass also have the combined effect of reducing the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Even our government has accepted this reality and is compensating by undertaking cloud seeding to create artificial rain. But we all know that these are just temporary, stop gap measures.

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Posted on February 2nd, 2009 under Climate Change, Forest Trees. Tags: Forest, Forest Trees, Global Warming. Comments: 17