Learning Together: Agriculture in the Phillipines

How I am Beating Drought with Harvested Rainwater

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:12:00 +0000

http://www.teachamantofish.org.uk/blogs/PINETREE/index.html

How I am Beating Drought with Harvested Rainwater

It's drought in the Philippines and it is giving farmers woes and headaches. Crops are dying so are livestock especially chicken. Even fishes are dying. Many farmers cannot plant. Fifteen women and young men we are training on sustainable gardening cannot plant because there is no water. Some people with water pumps say they don't get enough water from underneath the ground.

In my house, I am dealing with the drought with harvested rainwater I saved last year when typhoons hit our place. I harvest water from the sky.

Not many know that there are two types of water--greenwater and bluewater. Greenwater are those that come from lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, springs, brooks and waterholes. Bluewater is rain. Most of green water is wasted and spent unwisely. But only few people harvest rainwater which is abundant every rainy season.

I have some 3,000 plastic bottles filled with rainwater. I estimate my harvested rainwater to be about 1,000 liters. This water is supporting my beans and pumpkin crops.

I recommend people to harvest rainwater during rainy days and store them. It may not only save their crops. One day, it may be their lives.

For ways on how to harvest rainwater, write me at michaelbengwayan@hotmail.com

The Importance of Petroleum Nut to the Philippines and to Filipinos

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:59:00 +0000

Dear Friends at Bibaknets,

In 2005, I decided to leave my journalism Reinhard Mohn Fellowship at Germany to work on a native tree which I believed would one day provide rural folks a sustainable alternative energy. I refer to the petroleum nut (Pitosporum resineferum) which grows in the Cordillera region but sadly now are very few because their natural habitat continue to be destroyed. I have read an article in the Canopy publication of the Forest Research Institute dated 1982 that it was impossible to grow the tree from seeds that is why FORI (now ERDS of DENR used cuttings and planted these in Loakan). Being an agriculturist, I wanted to find out. I harvested a few seeds at Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya. I plantied the seeds in various media but also failed. After four months, I was only able to grow 23 which I planted in my house in Longlong and farm in Tublay. These are now 5 years old and ready to bear fruit.

After a year, I discovered why it was difficult to plant the seeds. Correcting earlier untried research efforts, I was able to raise more than 10,000 seedlings. I meticulously recorded all my research activities and after two years I was ready to distribute thousands of seedlings to farmers.

Why did I bother about the tree? Because of three reasons. First, it will provide rural-dwelling Filipinos an alternative and ustainable source of fuel to replace expensive and vanishing fossil fuel. Secondly, when people plant the tree to harvest its fruits for oil, there will be less cutting of trees for fuelwood or firewood because rural families will now use oil from the petroleum nut for cooking and lighting. Third, the more people will plant petroleum nut to get more oil for socio-economic needs, the more trees there will be to serve as carbon sink and help prevent global warming.

When I made my discoveries, I went to several government agencies but they were not interested. So I continued my work alone. Today, I am happy to tell you that I and my small team have successfully been able to:

1) Test and prove that the petroleum nut oil can replace LPG and kerosene for cooking
2) It can replace kerosene for lighting.
3) It can run small one stroke engine and even a small water pump.

Fueld by our discovereries, we wrote several international organizations. Many responded and bared how they would help us, indicating the large economic potential of the tree. A Singaporean, a Japnese and five European organizations continue to pursue us in a joint venture.

However, we have chosen one institution because of one reason. We have chosen to forge a working relationship with the University of Tennessee because they are the only group which assured us that they will help us protect the patent rights of the tree from going into the control of biopirates, something we wanted to be assured of from all those who made an offer. In my presentation to the Benguet Provincial Board who asked me to orient them on the tree, I mentioned that it was not only important to conserve and propagate the tree but to protect it from exploiters. The university will help us on this item aside from doing the laboratory work on the potential of the tree to replace diesel and gasoline as fuel.

Before we arrived at our research results, I approached some government institutions for help but they gave me the cold shoulder. In fact, one institution-- an agricultural university--, to my consternation, is trying to duplicate our efforts.

On February 23, I will divulge to a group of top agribusiness companies (the Management Assn. of the Philippines), in Makatai the efforts done on the tree. This group wants to support a national conservation and production program for the petroleum nut. On March 7, I and representatives from University of Tennessee will hold a press conference and explain what we intend to do with our joint efforts and the results.

We will keep you updated and I trust our efforts will redown into helping our brothers and sisters in rural areas in the Cordillera region, and in other parts of the country, especially our farmers and of course in protecting our ecosystms and our indigenous resource properties and rights.

Michael A. Bengwayan

Petroleum Nut To be Tested on Different Engines

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:56:00 +0000

My group PINE TREE, the Cordillera Ecological Education, Training, Research and Information Center which is doing research on petroleum nut as an alternative sustainable fuel will be testing the petroleum nut oil on different diesel engines by May this year. This has become final as PINE TREE forged a formal working agreement with the University of The University of Tennessee
Department of Plant Sciences and the Dr. Neal Stewart Lab. The purpose is to 1) establish the extent and potential of the tree's oil as fuel and 2) to protect the tree from biopirates.

Michael

Home Garden, How to Do It by Dr. Mike in the Philippines

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:59:00 +0000

Home Garden, How to Do It by Dr. Mike in the Philippines

Traditional home gardens in northern Philippines range from 20 to 100 square meters. Planted normally are a mixture of sweet potato, yam, corn, beans, and a tree or two of avocado, pomelo, and guava.

Sounds good but not so good. It is important to have a plan in developing a home garden. These tips can help you:

A. In the garden,
1. Consider where the sun rises from because you should not plant crops that will shade other crops. Do storey planting where shorter plants are fully exposed to sunlight before the taller ones. (eg. pechay, eggplants, corn). Thus, crop orientation is important.

2. Look at your soil. Does it need more fertilizer?. Reddish to brownish soils indicate lack of NPK nutrients. if you don't know how to get soil sample, the most appropriate thing to do is increase your NPK levels. What will you use? Use organic fertilizer for basal application. If you intend to plant green leafy vegetables, use compost made out from nitrogen fixing plants and trees (eg. centrosima, caliandra, alnus). If you will plant fruit-bearing veggies or tuber-producing crops, increase potassium and phosphorus basal fertilizer.

It is also important to know if your soil needs to be watered regularly or not. How will you know? Get a handful of soil from your tilled garden, close your fist on it until you make a lump, raise your hand and drop it on the ground. If it does not break freely, your soil is too soggy, you don't need to water every other day. But if the soil breaks freely into many parts, then your soil is too dry, water every other day.

Now examine your soil. Do you have earthworms, century bugs and tiny critters/ if yes, you have a good soil. If you don't see anything moving or crawling, you do a damn "dead soil", that's not too good.

3. Protecting your plant is of utmost important. But remember, if you have the right to produce, you have the responsibility to produce safe and nutritious crops. Always consider the need to make the environment safe and clean and the rights of consumers. Never try to poison both. Ordinarily, the main pests of vegetables are slugs, snails and caterpillars (of many different insects), are the worst enemies.

To rid of slugs and snail especially in your seedbeds, put a cup of beer in a can and place it at the edge or rim of your seedbed. These attracts the pests and fall into the can. In the morning, dispose the pests. For caterpillars, put 15 to 20 cigarette butts in a liter of water and let them stay there for a week. The nicotene and tar of the cigarette butt mixes with the water eventually. Use this to spray against caterpillars.

Okay guys, more next time so drop by.

Michael the Gardener

Crisphead Losses to Romaine or Cos Lettuce

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:37:00 +0000

The unfortunate typhoon events that caused massive flooding and landslides in Benguet and Cordillera region Philippines forced PINE TREE to adjust its project on organic vegetables. of the fifteen young men that were to be trained eleven backed out because they had to go and help their families.

Because PINE TREE was helping victims and evacuees, it involved instead 12 young mothers in its training program. With the advent of Christmas and the need to raise immediate cash to help the family victims, the trainees planted two kinds of lettuce--crisphead and romaine.

The harvest on the crisphead variety suffered marketing problems because smuggled Chinese crisphead found its way to the local market. the romaine lettuce sold well however.

Growing organic Romaine Lettuce

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:45:00 +0000

A Reprint from PINE TREE's Newsletter
Growing organic Romaine Lettuce
By Emmanuel Arañas, PINE TREE Staff and Trainee

Organic vegetables can be grown in a small area or containers such as garden boxes and pots. Last October, we at PINE TREE sowed romaine lettuce seeds in pots. The seeds were from our seed bank. We used soil that was fertilized by vermicast, or the so-called worm poop. These are the castings of the African night crawlers. They are rich in nutrients that improve soil fertility which in turn help the lettuces’ growth.

Moreover, the lettuce pots were placed where repellant and nitrogen-fixing plants are to protect them from pests and diseases. We harvested some of these organic lettuces in the first week of December. This proves that nutritious and healthy vegetables can be produced in your own home.

When I was an agriculture student in college, they taught us organic gardening but the vegetables were being sprayed with pesticides so I knew the produce were not really organic. And I have learned from our director, Dr Michael Bengwayan that organic farming in most areas in La Trinidad cannot be practiced because of the chemical farming methods that have been done over the years. He said that the soil has become acidic and the pest that the farmers repelled from their farms will infest the organic gardens that are in close proximity.

PINE TREE have been growing and promoting organic vegetables since it started. And I only learned how to grow them when I became a PINE TREE staff. I got to learn zero chemical treatment and the minimal use fertilizers in gardening. I am very lucky to be with Dr Bengwayan’s staff because I am learning a lot. And this is one of the things why I am proud to be with PINE TREE.

Cordillera Indigenous Peoples Have Long Used Organic Farming

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:54:00 +0000

Organic farming is a new name for an old practice among many indigenous peoples in the Cordillera region, Philippines. For many years, indigenous peoples called Igorots, maintained ricefields fertilized with composted pig manure called "lumeng". This is mixed with rice straw and during planting, the manure is spread in the ricefields together with wild sunflower. (Tithanium divesifolium). The Igorots also have been using the nitrogen-fixing algae, an aquatic fern to help fertilize their rice with nitrogen before scientists claimed they discovered it.

In the homes of Igorots are home gardens which are a mixture of vegetables,medicinal plants and spices.

It is sad however that these indigenous sustainable practices are being lost to cash crop industry. PINE TREE is one of the few NGOs in the region still promoting homegardens and organic gardening.

Michael A. Bengwayan, Ph.D
Director
PINE TREE

Hunger Awaits Filipino Families

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:51:00 +0000

Where Two Typhoons Struck - Philippines

Hunger Awaits Filipino Families

By Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan

Image
Manila, Philippines (October 5, 2009) – The Philippines will face nationwide hunger starting the end of this year and will worsen by the first quarter of 2010 because of the destruction wrought by typhoons Ketsana (Ondoy) and Parma (Pepeng), the United Nations warned.

Paolo Mattei, UN World Food Program (WFP) regional officer for Asia said the country should prepare for possible widespread shortage of food after inspection was carried out. Two powerful typhoons in four regions of the country ripped through the Philippines destroying thousands of hectares of rice and corn.

Right after the warning, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered that rice will be imported to meet the impending food shortage even though rice importation in the past has often resulted in corruption like kickbacks and smuggling.

Billions Worth of Food Destroyed

Mr. Mattei traveled with agriculture secretary Arthur Yap who said almost 150 million dollars worth of rice and corn were destroyed in the Cagayan and Ilocos regions alone.

The Cagayan region, made up of the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Batanes, is the country’s largest corn and rice grower. The expected harvest for this quarter, Yap said, is all but gone.

An estimated 400,000 metric tons of rice and 300,000 metric tons of corn have just been lost, Yap said.

In the province of Isabela, the nation’s largest corn grower, all of the corn planted was wiped out by Typhoon Parma, he added.

Agriculture infrastructure worth more than 30 million dollars were destroyed as well, and the government is hard pressed to come out with funds to mitigate the impact of such losses, Yap said.

Besides the Cagayan and Ilocos Regions, typhoon Parma wrecked havoc in the Cordillera, Central, Southern Tagalog and Bicol regions, displacing 170,000 families more besides the 2 two million families already made homeless earlier by Typhoon Ketsana.

Diseases on the Rise

The agony and personal loss of the thousands of Filipino families made victims by the storms are being made more painful by the fact that not only are many hungry, without enough clothes and belongings, but also sick and without enough medicine.

Red Cross Chief Richard Gordon said thousands are sick of colds, diarrhea, influenza, injuries caused by the evacuation, and fungal diseases caused by long exposure to the dirty water when people escaped the floods.

“There is medicine, but it is not enough, we need more and we are pleading to the international community to come to our aid”, he said.

Already, Canada, the US, European Union, Australia, Japan have poured millions of dollars to assist the impoverished country run by leaders perceived by many citizens as corrupt.

Majority of those sick are women, elderly and children and their immunity system is gradually deteriorating, he added.

The spread of diseases has been rapid, he noted, because thousands are crammed in limited spaces of evacuation centers, and there is widespread problem of water and sanitation.

“Toilets are limited, as well as water for washing and bathing”, 56 years old Inciang Denas said, who took a bath only once while many have not taken one yet.

“There are no separate toilet for women and toiletries like tissue paper, hand disinfectant and soap are nowhere to be found”, cried, Nancy Hista,

In many places, the stench of dead animals still lingers as well as the thousands of tons of waste and garbage that remains uncollected.

Hundreds of Flooded Villages Still Unreached

As the government struggles to cope with the gigantic task of evacuating, feeding, treating and rehabilitating towns that have been flooded, hundreds of villages in 26 provinces are still submerged, and thousands of isolated people have yet to receive relief and supplies.

According to Red Cross disaster expert Rene Sarmiento, many of these villages have not been reached basically because of lack of appropriate transportation like motorized rubber boats.

“Rubber boats cannot travel against flood waters with strong undercurrents, we need pump boats or rubber boats with motors”, he said.

Many of the rescue efforts done by boats were done by people with private yachts and personal speedboats.

Many villages also have become incommunicable because power and communication lines were cut, Sarmiento said.

“We lost contact with many local leaders and residents”, he said.

Blame Game

The disaster that struck the Philippines has made many people angry, especially the victims who lament how the government has been caught unprepared by the calamities.

The government, despite all its excuses, will be remembered for its corrupt and wasteful spending while no preparation has seriously ever been done to deal with a disaster of this magnitude.

However, it is the people, especially the rich and the government planners, who should share the blame. The country’s forests have been cut to almost just 20 per cent now from its original 75 million hectares of forests by the few elite rich families, many of whom are politicians. This has contributed to global warming.

Urban planners, likewise, have not looked into the probable environmental impacts of their plans that have been used to construct roads, housing, drainages, canals and sewer lines.

Garbage generated, especially by the many poor, find their way to rivers and canals and the government does not have an effective solid waste management programme

However, If at all, the two typhoons have taught the Filipinos a thing or two about caring for the environment. This time, hopefully, the Filipinos will learn after their bitter lesson.

Michael A. Bengwayan is a Journalist and environmental specialist based on Manila. He can be contacted through youth_campaign@iolteam.com.

My Family Is In My Scrapbooks

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:54:00 +0000

My Family Is In My Scrapbooks

By MICHAEL A. BENGWAYAN

Baguio City, Philippines – Where did you last see yourself and your family enjoying a happy get-together or bowing your heads in reverence to a passing relative?

For me, it is in my scrapbooks. They contain my family. A dried flower, a pressed rose petal, photos of kids with impish looks, a postcard from an unknown place, faded drawings of my grandparents chanting prayers—they are magic touchstones in my scrapbook that keep those I love with me forever.

I always love making scrapbooks. Once in elementary, I had the best one in my class.

Scrapbooks can be in the mind but it is best when you can hold and see them. You can’t do that to your memory.

Once, I thought of my father’s death. It seemed as if, everywhere I went, something awoke painful memories—the oil of his 1950 Ford clunker, the deck of cards which accompanied him for Russian poker and his piercing smile. But the memories are best preserved in my scrapbooks—when he hit a homer, the time hr brought me my first barbershop and when we grabbed frogs for dinner at a nearby creek.

Make Something Memorable

In making scrapbooks, remember that you are doing something once that might be turned into a family tradition. Choose family ceremonies for scrapbooks, they provide some of the most cherished memories.

I used to have a small fire outside our yard every evening of weekends and gather my children. While they roast sweet potato, sausages and burn marshmallows over the embers I read them stories of great and infamous men and people of the world—of Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Kemal Ataturk, the wars between Mesopotamia and Greece and even the Peking Man.

Those stories are one reason our family outings remain so memorable. We have photos of those evenings. I have a burned page of the history book I read pasted in my scrapbook

To make the ordinary unforgettable requires only that we look at everyday events with eyes open to the symbolism they hold as a metaphor of love. Whether it’s lighting the first fire during the cold months or going for a forest hike on summer, it becomes memorable when we do it and capture it on scrapbooks because we do it with appreciation and self-ceremony.

Lock In Special Moments

Having nearly lost my life three times, I have learned to make an effort to capture the lovely moments of my life. Whenever I sense that a moment is perfect, I take a photo or pick up an object—a stone, leaf, flower, -- that represents that moment and take it home. I mark the object, putting the date, place and time of the even and add it to my scrapbook.

When my only son was born, for instance and it was his first time to be bathed by my wife in an open tub in our yard with a friendly sunshine, I captured the pungent smell of the soap and water, of the sun’s warmth on the baby’s face and his shrieks—all in my handy-cam and camera. The videotape and the photos are in my scrapbooks bringing to mind happy awareness that on that day, everything seemed perfect and free.

It is especially important to help children lock in their memories, because they seldom have long term recall of early experiences. You can do this by letting them write what they remember or by writing down what you have witnessed and recalling it to them after a few years.

Collect Reminders

My early childhood friend who soon became my assistant for 15 years in doing forest conservation work in the Philippines, now in Canada, keeps in his pocket a key holder that contains a fossilized insect. It was given by his father. The fossil reminds him where his great grandparents came from, Sagada—a beautiful tourist-frequented town north of the Philippines which has giant limestone formations with fossils.

“I remember my hometown and my parents when I feel the small stone in my pocket. I am reminded how much we were loved by my parents”, he quipped.

Special things mean special people and special l memories. Think carefully before you throw away drawings, letters, pictures, objects, postcards, greetings cards, call cards, or toys.

They maybe your children’s first scribbling, drawing or property. Don’t assume because you are not interested at 25, in keeping family treasures, that you’ll feel the same way later in life...

It is also important to invest in future memories. For instance, knowing that it will be your parents’ anniversary, prepare an occasion, a bunch of flowers or candies. Give it to them and capture the surprise and happiness in their faces with a picture and a petal, leaf or wrapping from the flowers or chocolates.

You may never know if you will be around or they will be around for the next anniversary.

Into everyone’ life comes such opportunities. Sometimes, it is a simple thing—a parent’s decision on a lovely morning, forego chores and the laundry to walk around the neighborhood with her daughter. Or an impulsive visit to sick neighbor you have never been in conversation with.

It’s the composite of such moments when you take time for another person that creates a kind of memory collage. Bits of kindness stick to pieces of caring and they’re all pasted together to form beautiful memories—and a scrapbook. /30

Rapid Composting and Vermiculture Training

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:13:00 +0000

PINE TREE wil be conducting a training on rapid decomposition using natural decomposers and vermiculture for VIRAC household heads on October 27-29. Emphasis will be given on century bugs like springheads, Isopods, colembola and Demaptera as decomposers and on the earthworm african night crawler. Lectures and demonstrations will be given by Dr. Bengwayan

Community-Supported Agricultural Training for OSYs Cut

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:29:00 +0000

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

The number of participants to the training course on "Alternative Organic Off-Season Vegetable Training" slated from October 4 to December 15 has been cut from 30 to just seven because funds intended for the said training has not been sourced. From the original applications of 62 to the accepted number of 30, only seven will be able to be supported accommodated to the training.

The Training Needs Assessment (TNA) earlier conducted shall be verified once more in light of the threats from the World Trade Organization that China's open importation to the Philippines is becoming more and more a reality. Sooner rather than later, local vegetables will have nowhere to go since these have no export capability (they are not globally competitive in terms of pesticide hazard safety).

The impending need to introduce homegardens, permaculture and alternative agric-ecology enterprises for farmers are becoming more real and demanding.

The Out of School Youth (OSY) participants are requested to see Mr. Emmanuel Aranas in preparation for the training course.

Again, our apologies to earlier OSYs who were ensured of the training slots. Note that we are doing are best to look for funds to sustain our training activities. We hope for your understanding and consideration.

Thank you once again.

Michael A. Bengwayan

Responses to Readers' Questions

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:35:00 +0000

What is Apisang nuts and what makes it a viable source of alternative fuel?

The apisang or petroleum nut is an endemic tree in the Philippine growing mostly in mossy forests like that of Benguet. Its fruit has high contents of heptane e-pine and dihydroterpene whichg are components of gasoline and kerosene.

2.What are the uses of Apisang nuts as a traditional product?

It is used as a traditional medicine especially for stomachache, wounds, and joint pains.

3.What are the uses of Apisang nuts as a source of alternative energy?
It is used as cooking fuel for gas stove, lighting when put in petrol lamps, for drying crops like rice, corn, legumes, tobacco and for heating homes.

4.What is the best method of propagating Apisang nuts? Through use of seeds but there is a trick in doing it. It is described in the technoguide.e
5.How much is the initial investments in the propagation of Apisang nuts? A thousand pesos would b enough.
6.What is the percentage of fuel recovery in Apisang nuts when treated in fuel processing? When you use steam distillation you get 80 to 90 per cent of the oil.
7.How much is the probable income that can be generated in Apisang nuts production? I have not done a study on that but it would be financially gainful.
8.What is the rate of return of investments in Apisang nuts production? Perhaps about 400 %.

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:27:00 +0000

Press Release

Farmers Planting Petroleum Nut At Mount Data National Park

By Emmanuel Aranas

Bauko, Mountain Province --- Farmers within the Mount Data National Park led by former Mountain Province governor Sario Malinias are planting thousands of petroleum nut (Pittosporum resineferum) trees within the national sanctuary.

They intend to reforest most of the 5,512 once mossy forest which has been laid bare by vegetable farming. Petroleum nut is endemic at Mount Data but it has been lost due to commercial vegetable farming.

They are being assisted by Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan who have worked in producing thousands of petroleum nut trees and have started extracting oil for biofuel from the tree. Dr. Bengwayan is the director of the Cordillera Ecological Education, Training, Research and Information Centre known as PINE TREE, a non-profit organization working against environmental decay and poverty.

According to ex gov. Malinias, many Bauko farmers received training from PINE TREE in an effort to plant petroleum nut to serve the energy needs of rural farmers in cooking, lighting, heating and drying.

He said they are preparing to attain a sustainable and efficient source of clean fuel for the future because fossil fuel such as diesel oil, kerosene and gasoline will soon be depleted and will turn very expensive.

The petroleum nut caught national attention when it was bared by Dr. Bengwayan to several newspapers and national television channels that it is the country’s most promising biofuel source.

Already, seedlings have been distributed to as far as Bicol, Zambales, and Bulacan. Besides Bauko, the Benguet town of Kapangan has planted the most seedlings that have been donated by PINE TREE.

The Japanese environmental group ENECON Japan has signified its interest to plant the tree and extract its oil. ENECON Supervisor Takashi Kato bared that he is asking ENECON top management in Japan to go into petroleum nut venture here in Benguet.

PINE TREE has already proven that the oil can be used for cooking using a gravity type kerosene stove and for lighting using a home-made peteol-lamp. This was demonstrated to GMA 7 television crew Kapuso that traveled all the way from Manila to film the project.

PINE TREE is engaged in fabricating lamps and stoves that will be used by rural homes utilizing petroleum nut oil as fuel with the assistance of the British-based Ashden Sustainable Energy Program/30

Growing Energy for Rural Development

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:54:00 +0000

Inquirer Northern Luzon
Growing fuel for rural dev’t

By Maurice Malanes
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inquirer Northern Luzon
First Posted 01:54:00 08/19/2009

Filed Under: Alternative energy, Environmental Issues, Forest and forest management

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Philippines—When environmental scientist Michael Bengwayan and his staff succeeded where government scientists had failed in propagating an upland petroleum-rich tree, he had in mind forsaken rural communities.

“Rural communities must learn to propagate this indigenous tree, extract its fuel and use it to spur their own development,” he says.

Bengwayan, executive director of the Pine Tree, a nongovernment ecological education, training, research and information center in La Trinidad, Benguet, was referring to the “petroleum nut” or resin cheesewood (Pittosporum resinferum).

The plant, which is native to the Cordillera and other upland areas in the Philippines and a few other countries such as China, has an octane rating of 54, compared to jatropha’s 41 to 43. Fossil fuel has an octane rating of 91.

Octane rating is a measure of the ability of a liquid motor fuel, such as gasoline, to prevent pre-ignition or knocking. Fuels with higher octane rating are less likely to cause knocking.

Fuel for countryside

Bengwayan and his technicians discovered how to extract oil from the petroleum nut fruit, which, they said, could be used for cooking, lighting and running simple machines and gadgets, such as water pumps and grinders.

For cooking, petroleum nut oil is not only more efficient and cheaper than firewood or charcoal. Three to five trees can yield about 15 liters of oil per harvest, and since harvest is twice a year, these amount to 30 liters, which a family can use for cooking for three to four months, says Bengwayan.

Fifteen to 20 trees can already supply a family’s year-round cooking fuel needs.

Three parts of petroleum nut oil, however, have to be blended with one part of kerosene if used for cooking.

Once it becomes popularized as cooking fuel, petroleum nut oil can free upland people from cutting trees for firewood or charcoal. This can help save and enable critical forests and watersheds to regenerate, Bengwayan says.

For lighting, two parts of petroleum nut oil can be mixed with one part of kerosene to fuel a Petromax lamp. But petroleum nut oil need not be blended with anything if used for a simple oil lamp.

As water pump fuel, petroleum nut oil can enable upland residents to draw water from lower elevations for irrigation or household use.

The possibilities that petroleum nut oil can do to propel rural industries are endless, says Bengwayan. Upland folk can use the tree oil for blacksmithing, food processing, milling grains, threshing rice and grinding reeds, grasses and weeds for compost, among other things.

With its higher octane, petroleum nut oil can also be tapped as alternative fuel for vehicles.

But Bengwayan is keen on propagating the plant for simple industries in neglected rural communities than promoting it as alternative fuel for vehicles, which only a few rural residents can afford.

This, he says, is in consonance with his organization’s mission of fighting poverty and environmental decay through scientific research and innovations.

Community control

But rural communities must secure and take control over this highly priced tree, which, Bengwayan says, is a rare species also under threat from biopirates.

For this to happen, they must learn the basics of propagating and planting the tree through seed-banking, extracting the oil and finally documenting these, he says.

“Documenting the tree’s traditional and new uses is the communities’ means of protection against outsiders who may attempt to patent its properties and uses,” he says.

Under patent rules, applicants can only seek patents for those that are new. So outsiders cannot patent uses or properties which communities have already discovered and documented.

Bengwayan says the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) can help communities protect their endemic resources through documentation before “biopirates” come in.

The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act and Article 8(j) of the United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity protect traditional knowledge against those who seek to steal the resources of indigenous communities and its accompanying traditional uses.

As a rare species, petroleum nut is best propagated through seeds.

The Forest Research Institute of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has succeeded in propagating petroleum nut through cutting, using tissue culture.

But Bengwayan discourages this because taking the branches of the few remaining petroleum nut trees in the forests for tissue-culture will all the more lead to their extinction.

He says the best way is to propagate the oil tree through seeds and bring back the seedlings to the forests.

Propagating the seeds, however, is challenging and it requires patience. Bengwayan and his technicians almost gave up in their experiment of propagating oil tree through seeds in 2005.

But just as when they almost lost their patience, the petroleum nut seeds they sowed began to germinate after almost three months. “We found out the seed of this tree had a long dormancy (temporary cessation of growth or metabolism),” he says.

They lost no time in propagating petroleum nut seeds starting 2006, securing these in nurseries.

They have since propagated more than 30,000 seedlings, which they have scheduled to give to some 23 farmers in the upland towns of Kibungan and Kapangan in Benguet. These will be planted during the rainy season.

Updates on Petroleum Nut

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:11:00 +0000

To all who wrote asking for info on petroleum nut. Please bear with me. I am on travel, I will put up all the updates September 24 Thursday tomorrow. menawhile for the facts I can recall in our technoguide. those asking how much oil would be produced: For every 15 kg of ripe fruits, 40 cl of expelled oil can be extracted. Some 400 liters can be harvested from a fully grown tree every year. This can be used directly as lighting fuel in petrolam. To use it for cooking in kerosene stove, it can be mixed with kerosene at a ratio of 3:1 (petroleum oil:kerosene). If you let it undergo isoterification process, try several blending fuels. Someone asked if you have to mix hexane, the oil from, the fruit is hexane itself.

There are five varieties discovered. Seeds from each fruit range from 5 to 21. You get the oil from the fruit not the seeds, thus, you get more oil rather than plantintg Jatropha curcas. the octane rating of the oil is 54 much higher than Jatropha which is only 43.

Save the Sunflowers

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:27:00 +0000

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20090706-214022/Stop-using-sunflowers-for-compostStop%20using%20sunflowers%20for%20compost%20-%20INQUIRER_net%2C%20Philippine%20News%20for%20Filipinos.mht

Miracle tree can produce fuel

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:31:00 +0000

Link to article in Sunstar

Benguet finds oil treasure in ‘petroleum nut’

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Link to article in Philippine Daily Inquirer

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:26:00 07/02/2009

Filed Under: Alternative energy, Energy, Oil & Gas - Upstream activities

LA TRINIDAD, Bebguet -- Agriculturists and villagers are propagating seedlings of a “petroleum nut” locally known as apisang which, they say, could be an alternative source of fuel and energy.

Michael Bengwayan, an agriculturist, said the oil extracted from the nut could be used for cooking and lighting.

More than 30,000 seedlings have been produced since 2007, he said. The first batch was planted by 23 farmers in Kapangan and Kibungan towns.

Agriculture scientists see the nut, or resin cheesewood (scientific name Pittosporum resiniferum), as a source of sustainable fuel in the Cordillera and the answer to India’s jatropha (Jatropha curcas), which is now being promoted by biodiesel advocates all over the world.

“Why does the government have to spend P125 million for jatropha when we have our own source of alternative fuel?” asked Bengwayan in a press forum here.

He presented research results on the nut that showed its prospect as an alternative fuel that, he said, could energize rural households.

Bengwayan, also a director of the Pine Tree, a non-profit organization working on ecological education, training, research and information, said the nut has a higher rate of octane, which was more combustible than jatropha.

The Benguet State University is doing research on areas where the apisang trees thrive, the germination of the seeds, multiplication of the seedlings and their sustainability, Bengwayan said.

The tree is endemic to the Philippines and is believed to be the country’s “most promising biofuel treasure, which could provide energy to rural areas and reduce global warming,” he said.

It thrives in Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Mt. Province, and Ifugao and is also known locally as hanga (Tagalog), dingo (Mt. Province) and sagaga (Abra).

Bengwayan said the extracted oil could be used for cooking when blended with kerosene (with a ratio of three parts oil and one part kerosene) and for lighting.

The oil could also be used to cure stomachache and prevent skin infection, he said.

Propagating the seedlings can help contribute to the region’s carbon sink, a process that helps reduce carbon dioxide in the environment and reduce global warming, he said.

Bengwayan said more seedlings would be distributed to farmers and villagers.

“They may sell the oil if they have an excess supply. But the important factor here is we are able to save and not destroy the environment,” he said.

Bengwayan’s group has established a seed bank in the village of Longlong here to keep the seedlings. It has been training farmers to maintain their own seed bank. Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

PINE TREE Holds Press Conference for Petroleum Nut

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:50:00 +0000

Want More Nutritious Food and Income? Plan a Mixed Legume-Leafy-Spice Home Garden

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:41:00 +0000

Staying Home: Father and Son

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:48:00 +0000

Staying Home: Father and Son
By Michael A. Bengwayan

Writer, Journalist - Philippines

Yesterday as I was pulling our cows to the barn with my 18-year-old son at our small house in Longlong, La Trinidad, Philippines, he told me, “Dad, school days are near and it rains every day. What a time to start school.” I stopped and wondered. What a time indeed.
Even for me who has to end my vacation and go back to work. It will be days involving deadlines, uncooperative sources or spats with editors—I grouse and rant thinking about it.

For more than a month, I did nothing but stay home with my son. We worked from eight to five laying poles to stretch hog wires to keep off stray dogs from the garden.

More than that, we talked. Talked like we never did before. He talked about how his math teachers seemed uglier and meaner than usual. How the school restrooms smelled more and more like ashtrays and that the world was fast coming to an end before he reached college.

I told him of the funeral pyres in Baktaphur, Nepal where they burn the poor corpses with a handful of rice straw and kick them down the river only to be ripped apart by waiting monkeys. Of working with the Harijans in Pune, Maharahstra, India where dead children are peddled for a bite of food, and of the dead and the dying in our own Mindanaoland where Muslim children are raised as young guns to fight invisibly against war-tested Philippine troopers.

My work calls for me to travel around the Philippines and some countries most of the time. When he was born, I was in Ireland finishing a PhD; I stayed in other countries as he grew and every time I came home, I knew we both hankered for talk.

We talked and said that cynicism was our fault and the rest was the fault of the generation that lay before him (me included). Maybe the world would be better off had it not been for people who went ahead of him, he said. I could only nod in agreement, knowing indeed, there is truth to the innocent thought he passed.

In between gasps and a drink of water I glanced at my son. Fast growing, eager to go out and face the world, whatever the world has to give. I never thought of it much, as work has always preoccupied me.

For many of us, work lays claim to our time and emotion, possessing us completely as any spouse or child. But those of us who think we have hard jobs can learn a lot from those who really do.

I wondered how the people I saw working against nature in Quezon to pull out dying and dead victims from the typhoon's wrath get the strength to do so. I wonder how some people counsel rape victims, investigate murder scenes, operate on dying patients, then have the energy to cheer their kids' local basketball team on Saturdays. I now wondered how, my son, battered an defeated with his sepak takraw team go home and smile to say, “The game was great dad!”

If the rest of us can't keep the stress of work from oozing over and staining the rest of life, how can they? More to the point: If they can, why on earth can't we?

When we separate the perspective of our silent privacy to that of working for life, we lose perspective. Other people build walls and maintain distance. My good friend Dr. Charles Cheng sometimes calls me to have coffee with him. We don't talk much. He asks how my day was, I ask him the same question in return. Then we let the dying minutes pass with no word exchanged. He has a bad day. I keep mum. Keeping up walls is the secret to coping with the pain when we feel defeated, lost, and unsure.

This is a lesson for me whose work is not a matter of life and death, but has the ability to use us up nonetheless. The only way to get the work done is to come up for air periodically. To turn off the computer, even on a deadline, and be there for your wife when she comes home tired from work. To say hell with the writing job you're organizing in your mind even as your editor keeps calling you, and smile to your children when they arrive home.

So we can all go out again tomorrow and do it all again.

I am happy I spent my vacation with son.

“I had a nice vacation with you, Dad,” my son says pulling the last cow inside the barn. “So did I,” I said. “Let's go home, dinner is waiting.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Bengwayan is a journalist based in Manila, the Philippines. He specializes in environmental, developmental, and related issues.

Organic Gardening Threatening Bees in Luzon, Philipines

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:37:00 +0000

The apiculture industry in north Luzon is in danger of declining because of organic gardening. Does this sound crazy? Read on. This is because organic gardeners are cutting all visible wild sunflower plants (Tithanium diversilfolium) which they widely compost for fertilizer. As a result, the bees in this region that depend heavily on nectar and pollen produced by the sunflowers, have difficulty foraging for food.

The Cordillera Ecological Education, Training, Research and Information Center (PINE TREE) is helping remedy this problem.It is planting sunflower cuttings in the mountains especially where there are no farmers. I am calling for people concerned to help us in this regard.

Michael

NGO Leads Fight to Conserve and Protect Petroleum Nut

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:15:00 +0000

NGO Leads Fight to Conserve and Protect Petroleum Nut
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1209357937787&pagename=Zone-English-HealthScience%2FHSELayout

By Michael A. Bengwayan

Director - PINE TREE

Petroleum nut is believed to be the country's most promising biofuel treasure.

A petroleum-rich tree native to the Philippines and believed to be the country's most promising biofuel treasure is being conserved as it has the potential to provide rural energy and to reduce global warming.
The tree, which is native to only a few provinces in the Philippines and a few other countries in the world, is in danger of falling into the hands of biopirates to enrich only a few profit-oriented multinational companies.

The tree called "petroleum nut" or resin cheesewood and scientifically called Pittosporum resiniferum produces inedible fruits that are octane rich, even richer than the oft-boasted shrub Jatropha curcas of India, which is now being planted in millions of hectares by biodiesel advocates all over the world.

Tree Threatened by Biopirates

To prevent the depletion of the tree from its natural habitat by deforestation or from joining the long list of pirated botanical treasures of the Philippines, a non-profit organization called PINE TREE set up by the New York City-based Echoing Green Foundation, is leading the battle to save the tree and put its ownership right where it belongs - into the hands of the indigenous tribes of the Cordillera region.

PINE TREE is an educational, training, research, and information center on ecology.

"We fear that if we do not put rightful claim to the tree as well as start germplasm protection, collection, and production, biopirates will grab the tree and file patents on the use of its properties," said Richard Botengan, PINE TREE’s program leader, who is based in Canada doing liaison work for the NGO.

The Philippines, one of the most critical "bio-hotspots" in the world is losing its natural richness not only by natural habitat destruction but also by biopirates.

History of Biopiracy

"The project helps reduce global warming, and the local peoples have a sustainable source of income."
The rape of the Philippine forests is nothing new, but the plunder and theft of its rich biodiversity has just begun. Its forest resources, minerals, agricultural and medicinal plants, and indigenous knowledge are being looted by monopoly companies that make millions of dollars patenting and selling plant germplasm, even to those who used to own it.
The first case of foreign biopiracy in the Philippines involved a soil collected and isolated from a cemetery in Iloilo by Filipino scientist Abelardo Aguilar, then working for the American company Eli Lilly. An organism in this soil was found to produce an antibiotic, named Ilosone in honor of the province of Iloilo, a well known drug popularly known as erythromycin. Aguilar never received a single cent from his company even after the Philippine government's intervention.

After this first brush with biopirates, more Philippine plants became prey. Two important ingredients of the Filipino diet, namely the "ampalaya" (Mamantia mordica) and "talong" (Solanum melongena), are now the exclusive property of the US National Institute of Health (NIH), the US Army, and the New York University. These parties are conducting intensive studies on the three crops for their potential in curing HIV and thrombosis. The crops are under the US patent numbers US 5484889, JP 65011089, and EP 552257.

Tree to Reduce Global Warming

"Our project trains local peoples to plant petroleum nut and lets them engage in carbon deals."
PINE TREE has planted more than 5,000 seedlings of three endemic petroleum nut varieties from different germplasms that are in its seedbank. These trees will be planted in communal forests to ensure the continuous existence of the tree for years to come.
"Right now, PINE TREE has set up nurseries and is propagating thousands of petroleum nut seeds and cuttings from four endemic varieties. These trees will be planted in ancestral forests of the indigenous peoples to ensure the continuous existence of the tree for years to come," added Botengan.

In 2007, PINE TREE won the prestigious Toyota Environmental Award from the Toyota Motor Company. The award, amounting to USD75,000, is given to a non-profit organization from any country that can present the best program to protect biodiversity while promoting technology for the rural poor. PINE TREE bested more than 500 organizations from 78 countries worldwide.

The award is now being used to preserve, protect, conserve, and mass-produce petroleum nut, not merely because of its oil potential but also as a carbon sink.

Stressing that those to benefit first and directly from the project should be the indigenous peoples, PINE TREE staff is training local villagers to plant, care for, manage, and extract the oil from the tree. The oil will be used for cooking, lighting, heating, running small machines (like water pumps and grinders), and drying.

PINE TREE says conservation of the tree is critical as it is only found in some four to five provinces.
PINE TREE has slated the first training program for villagers on June 4-7, 2008 to benefit 150 farmers, at the National Training Center of the Agricultural Training Institute (NTC-ATI) of the Philippines.
Dobbels Wallang, project assistant of PINE TREE said, "Our project trains local peoples to plant petroleum nut and lets them engage in carbon deals. By this, the project helps reduce global warming, it lessens pressure on forests, which are usually cut for fuel wood, and the local peoples have a sustainable source of income."

Under the Kyoto Protocol, pollution-emitting companies can be taxed higher, fined, or closed. But if these companies are able to finance reforestation and afforestation projects in developing countries that absorb the carbon dioxide they emit, they are allowed to operate because of their corporate responsibility to reduce global warming and to promote countryside development.

Carbon trading deals involving tree planting in developing countries will provide greater benefits than just improving the environment. They could sharply reduce poverty among the rural poor and provide businesses with an inexpensive way to offset their carbon emissions.

Fuel Potential

By chemical analysis, petroleum nut is better than India's Jatropha curcas.
By chemical analysis, petroleum nut is better than India's Jatropha curcas. According to Joseph Gonsalves, consultant of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and author of "An Assessment of the Biofuels Industry in India" published in 2006, Jatropha has a low octane rating of 43. Octane is a hydrocarbon found in petroleum. The Octane rating is how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites.
Chemist Sheryl Lontoc of the Chemistry Department of De La Salle University (DLSU), which is assisting PINE TREE says that their chemical analysis of petroleum nut reveals that it has an octane rating of 54. According to Lontoc, this means the fuel from the tree has a higher potential of running engines, and by all indications, petroleum nut is far better than Jatropha curcas. Fossil fuel has an octane rating of 91.

According to studies made by the Forest Research Institute of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the Philippines, petroleum-nut oil contains 46 percent of gasoline-type components such as heptane and dihydroterpene.

A single tree can yield 15 kg of green fruits, which can produce 80 cm3 of oil. The residue, ground up and distilled with steam, can yield 73 cm3 more. Planting the petroleum nut trees would yield 45 tons of fruit or 2,500 gallons of petroleum oil per acre per year.

Earlier studies done by Dr. Pamela Fernandez of the University of the Philippines at Los Banos indicate that a single fruit yields 0.1 to 3.3 ml of oil, averaging about 1.3 ml. In general, the bigger the fruit, the larger the seed and the greater the oil content.

The Petroleum nut fruit has many traditional uses. These include its use as a cure for many conditions (such as skin diseases, common colds, and muscle pains) and to ease stomach pain.

In the Benguet province, the tree is called apisang, abkol, abkel, and langis in the vernacular. It thrives in Mt. Pulis, Ifugao, and in the headwaters of the Agno and Chico River Basins. It is also found in the Bicol provinces, Palawan, Mindoro, Nueva Ecija, and Laguna.

Conservation Critical

PINE TREE says conservation of the tree is critical as it is only found in some four to five provinces. "It is difficult to find the tree nowadays," said Delmar Litilit, the environmental officer of PINE TREE, "If one does, there are often just a few trees in a small forest fragment," he added.

In 2006, China told CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) that the species of petroleum nut it has should be placed on the protected species list because it is rapidly disappearing. PINE TREE believes the Philippine government should do the same sooner rather than later, the tree may go the way of the Dodo.

Sources:

Duke, James A. "Handbook of Energy Crops." (1983). Accessed 26 May 2008.

Gonsalves, Joseph B. "An Assessment of the Biofuels Industry in India." United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva. 18 Oct. 2006. Accessed 26 May 2008.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael A. Bengwayan is the director of PINE TREE, a non-profit organization working on ecological education, training, research and information. He is a Fellow of the Ford Foundation, Echoing Green Foundation, and Reinhard Mohn Foundation. He has a PhD and a master's degree in development studies, environmental science and rural development, respectively.

2001 Echoing Green Fellow Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:35:00 +0000

http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellows/michael-bengwayan

Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan
2001

Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan
PINE TREE

La Trinidad, Philippines

Arts, Culture, Humanities, Civil and Human Rights, Community Improvement & Economic Development, Education & Youth Leadership, Environment, Food, Nutrition, Agriculture, Non-Violence, Public Service

The Bold Idea:
Fighting poverty and environmental decay through social change.

Biography:

Post Ph.D. Public Policy, JFK School of Public Policy, Harvard University (Ford Foundation Fellow)

Ph.D. Development Studies, University College Dublin, Ireland (EU Fellow)

MS Environmental Studies, Leuven University, Belgium

MS Rural Development, BSU, Philippines

Diploma in Advanced Journalism, Kalmar University, Sweden, SIDA Fellow

Author: Intellectual and Cultural Property Rights of the Indigenous and Tribal peoples of Asia

Author: Dam the Rivers, Damn the People, San Roque Dam

Michael Bengwayan is Growing Energy on Trees

PINETREEphill@gmail.com (PINE TREE) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:33:00 +0000

http://www.echoinggreen.org/blog/energy-from-petroleum-nuts

Michael Bengwayan is Growing Energy on Trees

Dr. Michael Bengwayan, a 2001 Echoing Green Fellow, wrote in to let us know his organization, PINE TREE was recently awarded a $75,000 prize from Toyota’s Environmental Activities Grant Program. The award will help Michael provide energy to farms and households in the Cordillera Region of the Philippines.

A remarkable twist to this community energy project is that he’ll be manufacturing biofuel from Pittosporum resiniferum (also known as the petroleum nut). This plant is indigenous to the Philippines and according to Wikipedia, the fruits (even green ones) can be used for illumination as torches or candles. The incandescent property is due to the volatile oil of the fruit, which also makes it excellent source material for biofuels.

Congratulations Michael!