5 foreign sweet sorghum varieties thrive in RP
The varieties are NTJ 02, SPV 422, ICSV 93046, CSR 93034, and ICSV 700, all developed by the India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).
They are found to have high content of juice and good grain yield when tested at the experimental farms of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), a multi-campus school in Ilocos Norte whose main campus is in this city.
Following the significant initial results of the studies, the five sweet sorghum varieties were subsequently tried in 58 other sites across the country.
Similarly encouraging, the results of the nationwide studies were reported at the “First National Sweet Sorghum RD&E Review and Planning Conference” recently held at the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) within the MMSU complex here.
The scientific conference was sponsored by the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) and co-sponsored by MMSU, ICRISAT, Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD).
Actually, as early as 2005, DA-BAR has supported R&D activities and initial production of sweet sorghum in Ilocandia through MMSU under the leadership of its lady president, Dr. Miriam Pascua, and vice president Dr. Heraldo Layaoen, who is national team leader of the government’s sweet sorghum program.
The program was subsequently implemented in several areas in the Ilocos,
The nationwide study’s results showed that out of the eight sweet sorghum varieties introduced in the Philippines by ICRISAT through DA, five (NTJ 02, SPV 422, ICSW-700, ICSV-93034, and ICSV-93046) were adapted to local conditions.
In Bicol, through a joint undertaking of DA-BAR, MMSU and the Bicol Integrated Agricultural Research Center (BIARC), the regionwide commercialization of sweet sorghum includes development of village-level technologies and products such as pops from its kernels (just like pop corn, which the Batac City conference participants, including this writer, were made to taste), and macaroons and production of molasses and organic fertilizer.
ICRISAT has dubbed sweet sorghum as a “smart crop” because of its many uses. This is on top of the fact that it can grow in dry conditions; tolerates heat, salt, and waterlogging; and provides steady income for poor farmers.
“We consider sweet sorghum an ideal ‘smart crop’ because it produces food as well as fuel,” said ICRISAT Director General William D. Dar, former Agriculture acting secretary. “With proper management, smallholder farmers can improve their incomes by 20 percent compared to alternative crops in dry areas.”
Consider the following:
• To produce ethanol, the sweet sorghum stalks are crushed, yielding sweet juice that is fermented and distilled to obtain bioethanol, a clean burning fuel with a high octane rating.
• The sweet sorghum grain can be used for food and chicken or cattle feed. If it has been damaged by plant diseases, it can be used to make bioethanol, protecting farm incomes that would otherwise be lost.
• The crushed stalks (bagasse) can be burned to provide energy for a distillery. However, research abroad has found that the bagasse value can be doubled if it is compacted in nutritious blocks and fed to cattle. — Rudy A. Fernandez
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