Agriculture Business Week

The Jatropha plant (also known as “tubang hakod” or “tuba-tuba”) is truly a biochemical wonder. Centuries before it gained popularity as a wellspring of precious biodiesel, rural communities in the tropics have already embraced its dual identity: a medicine cabinet for various body ailments as well as a toxic plant they have to be careful of.

Dr. Eustaquio G. Aragones, Jr., botanist of the Department of Science and Technology’s Forest Products Research and Development Institute (DOST-FPRDI), recently scanned the literature on Jatropha’s medicinal value and toxicity.

“Because it is both a strongly beneficial and harmful plant thriving all over the Philippines, Jatropha is one species we need to understand well, “he says.

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Posted on October 4th, 2009 under Other Crops. Tags: Jatropha, Tuba Tuba. Comments: None

A coffee company’s ongoing soil and water conservation programs in coffee farms throughout the Philippines are proving to be beneficial during the dry months.

Joel Lumagbas, head of the agricultural services department of Nestle Philippines, Inc. (NPI), says the company is promoting soil and water conservation programs in coffee farms in various ways through the company’s Coffee Based Sustainable Farming System (CBSFS} under the worldwide drive of Sustainable Agriculture Initiative of Nestle (SAIN).

One method uses Jatropha curcas, known locally as tuba-tuba. Aside from being a source of glycerol and biodiesel, Jatropha curcas is one of the secondary crops that CBSFS has been promoting to provide additional income for farmers and to prevent soil erosion.

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Posted on March 30th, 2009 under Coffee, Other Crops, Soil. Tags: Coffee, Jatropha, Soil, Water. Comments: 4

While other schools are conducting studies on the production of jatropha, a plant that is eyed as an alternative source of oil, the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Batac, Ilocos Norte has been producing jatropha seedlings. It has already produced 2 million seeldings, and these were planted in Pagudpod last November.

The seedlings are intended for a plantation establishment project of the Philippine National Oil Company-Alternative Fuels Corporation (PNOC-AFC) with the collaboration of the Burayok Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Ilocos Norte, says Dr. Jose T. Agustin, MMSU project leader of the jatropha seedling production.

In mid-September, two months after the project started, MMSU had already produced 700,000 seedlings of the green jatropha in a nursery along the highway. This variety reportedly yields more oil. To date, another nursery is being developed for the production of an additional 1.3 million hectares of jatropha to meet the requirement of the PNOC-AFC.

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Posted on March 6th, 2009 under Plant. Tags: Jatropha, Seeds. Comments: 5

The folks in Northwestern Luzon swear that age-old lore is often quite accurate in predicting the weather but they cannot explain why.

According to Evangeline Galacgac and Criselda Balisacan, researchers from the Mariano Marcos State University in Batac, Ilocos Norte, there is indeed a scientific basis to weather lore. In their study on weather lore which has earned for them national recognition, they found that the appearance of clouds, wind direction, humidity, and animal/insect behavior are among the atmospheric and astronomic indicators used by old folks.

For instance, old folks predict rain when the sky is red during sunrise. The researchers explained that a red sky in the morning is due to the sun shining through dust particles being pushed up by an approaching low pressure system, which brings in moisture. The rain would come when dense clouds in the form of mountains and huge towers are seen in the east or west at dawn.

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Posted on January 2nd, 2009 under Plant, Special Report. Tags: Clouds, Jatropha, Plants, Weather. Comments: None

Jatropha and malunggay, whose production is strongly being pushed by the Government and private sector, both grow in marginal lands with minimal soil moisture and fertility. Their rate of production is also marginal, unless the soil can have regular and adequate moisture and fertility.

This can be realized through small-scale rainwater-harvesting or water conservancy, especially if it will be integrated with the application of organic or a combination of chemical and organic fertilizers.

WHAT IS RAINWATER-HARVESTING?
Some of the rainwater provides moisture to trees and plants, some are used as irrigation water, while some are absorbed by the soil and eventually stored as groundwater.

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Posted on December 8th, 2008 under Other Crops, Plant. Tags: Jatropha, Malunggay. Comments: 1

Our good friend Dr. William D. Dar; director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropic (ICRISAT) in India, recently sent us the guidelines for the production of Jatropha curcas(tawwa-tawwa in Ilocano) to help Filipino farmers, government agencies, and institutions interested in cultivating Jatropha.

He said that although the guidelines are not exhaustive and made for India, these would still be very helpful because there are only few studies on Jatropha and these could apply in the Philippines. We are therefore reproducing the ICRISAT guidelines with minor revision.

• Jatropha can be grown on degraded lands that are not suitable for growing agricultural crops. Good quality farmlands must be spared for growing food crops.

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Posted on November 28th, 2008 under Other Crops. Tags: Jatropha. Comments: 1

Don’t look now, but those who get into agri projects ahead of others get their reward early. Just like the couple Undas and Sabel Utap of Brgy. Apopong, a remote barrio of General Santos City. They are the only ones in their barrio who have a commercial plantation of jatropha because upon learning that jatropha was being promoted for biofuel production, they right away planted two hectares of their 24-hectare farmland.

Now barely two years after they started planting, they are harvesting at least 100 kilos of seeds a month which they sell to Jubilee Agri-Advancement Corporation at P35 per kilo. The amount may be small to people who are used to big enterprises, but this is something very significant to small-scale farmers like the Utaps. Anyway, they expect to harvest more in the coming months as their trees grow bigger and more productive. They are expanding their plantation, by the way.
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Posted on October 14th, 2008 under Other Crops. Tags: Jatropha. Comments: 1