Agriculture Business Week

Interest in sweet sorghum is fast increasing. New investors are getting into the commercial production of this crop which has multiple uses. The government in the last few years has come up with a national program for the production of sweet sorghum as a source of ethanol for biofuel. Besides biofuel, however, there are many other important products that could be realized from sweet sorghum.

We just had a recent interview with Dr. Heraldo Layaoen, the team leader in the research and popularization of sweet sorghum as a new crop for farmers all over the country. Dr. Layaoen is a vice president of the Mariano Marcos State University in Batac City, Ilocos Norte.

One of the big new investors in sweet sorghum production and processing, he said, is Wellington Chanlim of Bantayan Island, Cebu. Besides running the biggest poultry operation in the Visayas (if not in the country) with one million layers, Mr. Chanlim is also engaged in large-scale piggery, feed milling, organic fertilizer production, egg tray manufacturing and power generation.
Dr. Layaoen said that Chanlim has recently started planting 100 hectares to sweet sorghum. He has a number of good reasons why he is going into sweet sorghum production and processing, eventually putting up his own distillery. One objective is to produce at least 25% of the raw materials he needs in feedmilling and related ventures. The grains will be used as corn substitute in his livestock and poultry feeds. Aside from the grains, Chanlim will also use in his feeds the syrup derived from the juice extracted from the stems.

He has other uses for sweet sorghum. For instance, Dr. Layaoen said, Chanlim has at present 200 head of cattle. Freshly cut sweet sorghum could be used as forage for feeding his cattle. The leaves and stalks could also be preserved as silage for feeding farm animals when there’s scarce supply of green grasses and other green fodder crops.

In addition to cattle, Dr. Layaoen has suggested to the Visayan businessman that he also integrate Murrah buffalo in his operation. The buffalo is more hardy than cattle and can be fed not only with the sweet sorghum leaves but also with the bagasse produced in the process of juice extraction from the canes. Also, the bagasse can be used as raw material in the manufacture of egg trays. Chanlim has a big egg tray manufacturing operation not only for his own use but also for other poultry raisers in Bantayan Island.
hectare.

The manure of the buffalo and other animals can also be used in biogas production. Oh yes, Chanlim has huge biogas digesters that produce methane gas for generating electricity needed in the farm. Another product is organic fertilizer produced in the process of methane generation.

Meanwhile, in Batac a group headed by Antonio Arcangel, a businessman “balikbayan” from Canada, is heading a group of investors from Batac, Pangasinan and Mindanao (Bapamin) that is initially planting more than 100 hectares to sweet sorghum in cooperation with farmers in four towns in Ilocos Norte, including Batac, Dingras, Solsona and Pinili.

A mobile extracting machine will be brought to the farms where sweet sorghum is produced. About 400 liters of juice can be extracted from one ton of canes. One of the products thatArcangel’s group will be producing is sweet sorghum vinegar. He said that Dr. Layaoen has linked his group with a chain of supermarkets which will buy the vinegar. Aside from vinegar, the group will also make basi, the Ilocano wine traditionally made of sugarcane juice.

The eventual goal of Arcangel’s group is to put up their own distillery if enough sweet production is available. He said that an ethanol plant with a production capacity of 40,000 liters a day will need a production area of 3,000 hectares. The projected cost of such a distillery is about B800 million. The distillery will be able to produce its own electrical power needs as the bagasse could be used as fuel.

The biggest area where sweet sorghum will be produced soon is Cabiao, Nueva Ecija. In past many years, some 1,500 hectares have been devoted to grain sorghum in the town. Now the farmers are shifting to sweet sorghum as this can give them an opportunity to make a better profit. Mayor Abundia Garcia is the number one promoter of sweet sorghum in her town, according to Dr. Layaoen.

Meanwhile, research and development activities on sorghum are continuing in collaboration with state universities and colleges as well as with farmers themselves. Varietal evaluations are being done in various parts of the country, including Isabela, Samar, Bicol provinces, Panay, Negros and Mindanao.

Sweet sorghum is an ideal crop to grow for many farmers. It will grow even where the soil is not ideal for other crops. It is drought resistant and is less expensive to produce than corn. It is also a good forage crop. At the Barangay Demonstration Farm in San Juan, Ilocos Sur, for instance, sweet sorghum is planted mainly as green fodder for goats, native pigs, cattle, carabaos and free-range chickens.