Jatropha and goats can coexist – studies

Jatropha and goats and sheep are no strange bedfellows.

They can live together in a jatropha plantation and make the most of their coexistence.

For instance, goat, which is said to nibble on anything it comes across when in the field, thus it is fondly called “live lawn mower”, does  not touch jatropha, a plant species now touted as an alternative source of biodiesel.

And so are sheep, according to experiences of farmers in Mindanao and a forest corporation in Batangas, as reported by Dr. Edwin Villar, director of the Livestock Research Division of the Los Baños-based Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD).

In General Santos City (South Cotabato), one farm noted that goat and sheep could coexist with jatropha as the animals eat only the biomass such as the weeds growing underneath the “biofuel plant”.

Dr. Villar reported: “According to the caretakers, the animals do not graze on the jatropha leaves nor stand on their hind legs to nibble on the trunks, branches, and the fruits. Animals that stray inside the seedling nursery do not even touch the plants.”

In  another case, Celso Diaz, consultant of the Philippine Forest Corp. in Lipa City, also noted that goats out in the field were not interested in the young jatropha plants.

The animals just ate the young cogon grasses, makahiya, banana leaves, kakawate leaves, ipil-ipil branches and leaves, the native centroaoma, and other forages found in the plantation.

In both farms, the animals served not only as “live lawn mowers” of the weeds but also maximized the use of the land, Dr. Villar said.

He explained it thus: “The food resources accessed by the animals in the jatropha farm is converted into meat, thus providing additional food and income to the plantation farmer. Likewise, the manure excreted by the animals in the plantation serves as organic fertilizer, thus improving the soil condition and fertility redounding to better production of jatropha plants.”   – Rudy A. Fernandez