FARMERS’ ADDITIONAL INCOME

Lemongrass grows in un-irrigated rolling hills, cogonal areas found in abundance all over the country.  These tracts of idle lands can now be planted to lemongrass as additional source of income to farmers, not as a substitute to whatever traditional products they maybe growing presently.

A  hectare planted with lemongrass contains 27,778 individual plants at a  distance of  60 cm between plants. Lemongrass leaves are harvested for the first time in six (6) months from planting.  Succeeding harvests in three (3) months and every three (3) months thereafter.  Minimum farm maintenance required are: weeding, covering the roots with soil by plowing in between the plants every after harvest and applying compost and/or dried chicken manure for fertilizer at least once a year.  Replanting is done in four to five (4 – 5) years depending on farm soil type.

Harvestable grass weight increases by a conservative estimate of fifty (50) grams every three months.  Each plant grows to about one and a half (1.5) to two (2) kilos in three(3) years. For estimate purposes, an average weight of one (1) kilo per plant per harvest is used.  This translates to an average 27,778 kilos lemongrass per harvest.  Sold to the processing plant at P1.00 per kilo of lemongrass, a hectare of lemon-grass would gross P27,778.00 per harvest or P111,112.00 per year (4 harvests).  Allowing P23,112.00 for farm maintenance and harvest expenses per hectare, each farmer with a hectare of lemongrass would earn an additional net income of P88,000.00 annually.

ZERO WASTE OPERATION 

A normal by-product in the extraction of essential oil from lemongrass or any other aromatic herb is the scented distilled water from which the oil was separated. In France, this water is called “hydrolat”.  The same would be used in the production of scented solid or liquid soaps, detergents, sanitary hand and facial wash, lotions, etc. 

Ten (10) metric tons of spent lemongrass maybe used as hay for the growing and cultivation of mushroom, spread directly into the freshly harvested fields for mulching, composted and used as fertilizer in the farm, or mixed with rice hull, corn cub, other leaves and twigs maybe carbonized and with the addition of an acceptable binder, turned into charcoal brickettes.  

The mother liquor (a liter or two, of the liquid found at the base of the distiller per distilling session) is actually a concentrate of plant nutrients.  This will be diluted and used directly as fertilizer in the field or used to aid and hasten composting operations.

Part of the cooling water used by the distillate condenser is recycled to the GIGC Steam Generator as the need arises. The rest is drained into a cooling water tank for recycling into the process water tank to conserve on water usage.

CONCLUSION

In 2001, Gold In Grass Corporation embarked on this project in San Francisco (formerly Moleg) a remote part of the Municipality of Rizal, in the Province of Kalinga, with the end in view of giving the local residents additional income while actually doing research and development.  We  performed  various but necessary experiments in order to acquire first-hand knowledge in the agriculture and processing of lemongrass.  The result of this R&D program, besides acquiring expertise in lemongrass farming, is the actual design and construction of a modular industrial steam distillation equipment to produce consistent high grade essential oil not only from lemongrass but also from all other aromatic plants and herbs where steam distillation is the applicable process of extraction.  A prototype of this equipment is now installed at the above GIGC farm and plant site. 

The grasses, herbs and trees that are often  ignored in the countryside will soon  usher in "golden opportunities" that will

·        bring  socio-economic security & ecological welfare to remote upland communities;

·        enable rural housewives  & women groups to become  successful entrepreneurs;

·        establish profitable forest restoration, and efficient community-based forest protection for  watershed & biodiversity ;

·        transform the countryside into progressive  center of economic growth.

The proposed project site is a 100-hectare idle upland area located in a mountainous barangay Magaogao in the town of Pinukpuk, Kalinga Province. The prospective project participants are mostly the indigenous populace residing  within the said barangay, who have no definite means of livelihood.  Preliminary discussion with the landowners revealed that all these prospective participants are living under a "hand-to-mouth subsistence". Most of them are growing vegetables and root crops just to augment  their substandard income, but they don’t get much from cheap vegetables due to poor transportation and low demand as most farmers grow their own crops for family consumption.

Mr Ernesto Guinid, the landowner and the tribal leaders expressed their interest in this project as a  way to make good use of their idle land, and help their poor relatives and tribal folks earn better income.  They encouraged us to seek outside funding as their local government cannot afford the budget required for this project.  

Years of illegal logging and indifference have brought this upland area to what it is today - denuded for the most part, and a potential threat to lives and properties of the people residing thereabout during rainy season. Landslide may not be a threat at this time, but drought during dry season aggravates their farming woes due to poor watershed brought about by forest denudation. This site could be the next ecological disaster area  given the right typhoons and rains, similar to the tragic landslides that struck recently in Southern Leyte and Surigao, leaving thousands of lives and homes buried under tons of mud. Something must be done very soon to reforest this area and prevent a similar disaster .

With funding support, this Agri-Forestry initiative will develop hectares upon hectares of God-given land to help our poor country, and employ the indigenous population to plant anti-erosion crops and water-conserving trees, thereby, restoring the integrity of the mountain slopes, improving the watershed, eventually, restoring biological diversity in the area, and establishing a sustainable enterprise for the poor indigenous communities.