Agriculture Business Week

Sweet sorghum was introduced in the Philippines several years back as a possible source of biofuel. This plant has an excellent potential for that purpose but in the meantime that there is no large scale processing plant for biofuel production, there are a few entrepreneurs who are produc-ing other products from the juice of the plant.

One of them is Antonio Arcangel of Batac City in Ilocos Norte. He has been one of the first to be interested in developing non-biofuel products from the juice of sweet sorghum. That is quite understandable because the principal center for research and development on sweet sorghum is right at the Mariano Marcos State University in Batac. The fellow who leads in the experiments and nationwide testing of different varieties is Dr. Heraldo Layaoen of MMSU.

Tony Arcangel has been producing good quality vinegar out of sweet sorghum juice. Another product is sweet sorghum syrup which could be used in pancakes and other food products.

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Posted on March 10th, 2012 under Other Crops. Tags: Sweet Sorghum. Comments: 2

Who would think that farmers could still extract profit from residues?

Researchers of the Bicol Integrated Agricultural Research (BIARC) do so. They have developed an innovative, environment-friendly technology to convert sweet sorghum residues into bioorganic fertilizer.

Bio-organic fertilizer is compost from any organic material that has undergone rapid decomposition through the action of introduced homogeneous microbial inoculants. It is different from fresh organic fertilizer in which natural decay process is brought about by the action of heterogeneous microbes present in the organic matter. Compared with the traditional composting method, the introduction of microbial inoculants shortens composting time from three months to just three to four weeks.

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Posted on October 11th, 2010 under Organic, Other Crops. Tags: Fertilizer, Organic, Sweet Sorghum. Comments: 3

What started as a seed company focused on breeding sorghum some 25 years ago has now become a major player in the seed industry as it has diversified into many other high-value crops, especially tropical vegetables.

This is the Allied Botanical Corporation organized by a then youthful business-minded guy named Willy Co who believed in the usefulness of sorghum, a hardy grain crop that could take the place of corn in livestock and poultry feeds.

While sorghum remains as a major interest to this day, the company has gone a long way in producing its own hybrids as well as selections of open-pollinated varieties. It is conducting its research and development activities in a 23-hectare experimental farm in Tayug, Pangasinan.

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Posted on February 4th, 2010 under Other Crops, Special Report. Tags: Seeds, Sweet Sorghum. Comments: None

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.

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Posted on September 28th, 2009 under Going Green, Other Crops, Special Report. Tags: Biofuel, Sorghum, Sweet Sorghum. Comments: None

Demonstration farms are not new in the Philippines. These are usually put up in small areas of one hectare or even less. There’s however, one big demo farm that is risking fast in Ilocos Sur.

This is the 16.5-hectare Barangay Demonstration Farm along the highway in Brgy. Labnig in San Juan town, a pet project of Gov. Deogracias Victor Savellano who is an agriculture-oriented provincial executive. The place used to be the experiment station of the Philippine Cotton Development Administration which has been dormant in the last 25 years, overtaken by weeds and the buildings badly deteriorated.

The purpose of the demo farm, of course, is to showcase improved farming techniques that the local farmers can adopt. While the project started operating only in December 2007, there are already a lot of practical farming technologies that are showcased for the farmers to adopt.

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Posted on January 23rd, 2009 under Farming. Tags: Demo Farm, Ilocos Sur, Sweet Sorghum. Comments: None