The Guardian - Nigeria - Lagos,Nigeria
By Bartholomew Okonkwo 11 March, 2009
CASSAVANEWS. Obasanjo opened our eyes on Cassava during his rule and this has placed Nigeria on the higher echelon of cassava matrix. What I am saying is that mechanised agriculture can be used by these governors to cultivate cash crops with improved seeding and this will even create jobs for the masses. What are they waiting for? Well I don't blame them when they use two years of their rule to fight for the mandate they would have stolen and the remaining two years to prepare for re-election. How can they concentrate and plan?
For Nigeria to move forward, our various governments state and federal should adopt the business model other Fortune 500 companies had adopted in order to realise their goals and objectives. The country has to be run as an enterprise before we can have any meaningful development. We need to have a business strategy and develop metrics to measure our profitability at the end of every calendar year. The business of our government is still being run in a non-orchestrated manner and this has resulted in the various hiccups we have had over the years. There are so many singers without a choirmaster.
For us to run our government as an enterprise, we have to evolve a business strategy. This is a plan that integrates an organisation's goals, policies, and action sequences into a cohesive whole. Such should identify the overall direction and intent of the organisation in terms of major drivers that are, or will be in place to ensure continuity. There is no organisation or nation that can survive or be in the league of blue-chip companies or developed economies if it does not have a clear-cut business strategy which defines the direction it is going.
For us to define our strategy, we have to look at three things. We have to define where we are going. We have to identify what are the terrains or issues we need to overcome to get us there and we have to identify where we are currently.
Several times in our life as a nation, we kept defining where we are going. We had Vision 2000, we had 2010 and now we have Vision 2020. In as much as these visions were not clear and people have not been made to buy into it, support it and make it happen, we have not really been consistent in realising the vision because we as a nation have not assessed what our terrain/issues are and how to overcome them. Our leadership style in this nation should adopt the management style of Ready, Aim and Fire style of leadership. Our leaders don't even know what they are firing at before they pull the trigger. They first pull the trigger and then ask questions. Simply put, they do not know where they are going to. There is no defined plan in place and a sequence of cohesive actions. What baffles me is that so many of these people have attended the best business schools in the world yet they fail at the leadership level. To me, it is simply selfishness and affiliation to party ideologies, which are not client driven. The clients-here are the masses who are yelling for change.
Now coming to our strategy realisation, we have to be ready. To be ready, we need to do a comprehensive assessment of what our issues/terrains are. What are those things that have made it impossible for us to realise our vision or where we want to go? Our terrains are corruption, improper electoral system, high recurrent expenditure, ineffective policing, Niger Delta, power, political pests, dependence on oil revenue, etc.
Other nations have natural disasters which they consider as their own issues or terrains but we are so blessed that we don't have such things here. Rather we have decided to create our own natural disasters. We have corruption which has been ravaging public institutions like a tornado, we have fraudulent electoral system that results in loss of lives each time an election is held, that is our own hurricane. In the area of policing, we have one of the most frustrated and ill-equipped police team in the world and due to poor welfare they often transfer aggression to the citizens they are meant to protect. The police are our own Tsunami. The cost of running our governments is so high, this is our own earthquake.
Power issue is an ugly monster that has retarded our development, created moribund industries, unemployment, high rate of crime and eliminated foreign investments in our country. Political pests are those who distract the presidency. They are working for different interest groups and have made government to lose focus on the citizens and direct policies to favour these few in order to grow their business empires. Too much dependency on oil and the need to divert our revenue quest to other non-oil yielding ventures. As a business enterprise, the government should focus more on the citizens, who are its internal customers, its work force that should be utilised effectively to drive down production cost as we have in China.
A proper assessment of these issues/terrains will enable us to identify those terrains that have made it impossible for us to achieve our various visions. We should be drawing the action plan to overcome our terrains in order to get to where we want to go to.
All state governments should adopt this business model and run their states as if they are running enterprises with the customers/citizens in consideration. They should look at ways of yielding internal revenues in order to finance their infrastructural development rather than this yearly ritual of waiting for oil funds. The world is looking at bio fuels and once America perfects this technology, oil prices will sell at $10 per barrel and Nigeria could go into extinction. Obasanjo opened our eyes on Cassava during his rule and this has placed Nigeria on the higher echelon of cassava matrix. What I am saying is that mechanised agriculture can be used by these governors to cultivate cash crops with improved seeding and this will even create jobs for the masses. What are they waiting for? Well I don't blame them when they use two years of their rule to fight for the mandate they would have stolen and the remaining two years to prepare for re-election. How can they concentrate and plan?
The bottom line is that I want a better country for all of us. I want a country we can call our own and be proud of even at the point of death. Patriotism seems to have died in this country because the citizens have lost hope in their leaders. Until government begins to run our agencies with that kind of zeal an entrepreneur would have in running his own business, we cannot get far. We see government's business here as nobody's business hence the scramble for the resources.
Okonkwo lives in Lagos.
Mar 11, 2009
Mar 9, 2009
Cassava glut downs prices, farmers lose out
Thanh Nien Daily - Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam March 9, 2009. With many farmers in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong rushing to cultivate cassava last year, a supply surplus has sent prices plummeting and left farmers with an unprofitable crop.(Picture: Sacks of cassava are weighed and loaded for transportation to the local market in Cu Jut District, Dak Nong Province.)
Dinh Van Dien of Dak Rong Commune in Cu Jut District said cassava was bought at VND3,000 (US$0.17) per kilogram last year but now it is priced half that.
He said he made no money from his two-hectare cassava field after paying nearly VND6 million ($343) in labor costs.
Many families in the commune, with cassava fields of 3-5 hectares, have literally been crying because of crop losses.
“It is so bitter,” Dien said. “Last year, farmers rushed to grow cassava after seeing the prices soar. We never imagined that cassava prices would plunge like this.”
Many disappointed farmers have yet to hire workers to cultivate their crops.
Pham Van Kieu, an agricultural products outlet in neighboring Nam Dong commune, said he refused to buy cassava from many farmers because supply was more than consumption this year.
Le Van Cong, head of Cu Jut District’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department, said cassava areas increased three times to 1,830 hectares last year although officials warned growers of producing a surplus.
Cong also said it was not just Cu Jut, but many other districts in Dak Nong Province that have seen a significant increase in cassava cultivation.
“Perhaps farmers do not need warnings this year. They will decrease it by themselves,” he said. “They have learnt the lesson.”
Reported by Tran Ngoc Quyen
ERA Flays Testing of ‘Super Cassava’
THISDAY - Apapa,Lagos,Nigeria
March 8, 2009
FCT. Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) and over 30 other civil society groups in Nigeria have condemned the alleged approval by the Federal Government for the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre, United States, to conduct field-testing of a genetically modified cassava christened “Super Cassava” in Nigeria.
They described the alleged approval as trading away Nigeria's food future to modern colonialists hiding under the cover of agricultural biotechnology, and said the proposed test must be halted immediately.
ERA/FoEN’s position is premised on the recently reported approval of the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) for the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike to go ahead with plans to conduct “contained” field trials of genetically-modified cassava on the banks of the Qua Iboe River, Abia State.
Details of the approval was revealed at the annual meeting of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, held in Chicago, U.S.A on February 13, 2009, where it was announced that Nigeria’s NBC had given the Danforth Centre approval to carry out field trials for GM cassava in collaboration with NRCRI.
In its reaction to the development, ERA/FoEN warned that the back door approach of the biotech industry and its Nigerian allies to introduce GM crops in the country will not only endanger Nigerians but is also a “breach” of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety which Nigeria is signatory to, which seeks among others to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.
"Nigeria does not need any super cassava. The genetic modification of cassava to produce Vitamin A is fraught with many dangers to the health of Nigerians who depend on cassava as a staple. Some years back the biotech industry engineered the so-called golden rice to be rich in Vitamin A, but one would need to eat 9 kilograms of that rice to have as much Vitamin A as one would have from eating just two small carrots! The golden rice was a golden hoax and the super cassava will turn out to be super fraud”, said ERA/FoEN
Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey in a statement issued in Lagos.
March 8, 2009
FCT. Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) and over 30 other civil society groups in Nigeria have condemned the alleged approval by the Federal Government for the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre, United States, to conduct field-testing of a genetically modified cassava christened “Super Cassava” in Nigeria.
They described the alleged approval as trading away Nigeria's food future to modern colonialists hiding under the cover of agricultural biotechnology, and said the proposed test must be halted immediately.
ERA/FoEN’s position is premised on the recently reported approval of the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) for the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike to go ahead with plans to conduct “contained” field trials of genetically-modified cassava on the banks of the Qua Iboe River, Abia State.
Details of the approval was revealed at the annual meeting of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, held in Chicago, U.S.A on February 13, 2009, where it was announced that Nigeria’s NBC had given the Danforth Centre approval to carry out field trials for GM cassava in collaboration with NRCRI.
In its reaction to the development, ERA/FoEN warned that the back door approach of the biotech industry and its Nigerian allies to introduce GM crops in the country will not only endanger Nigerians but is also a “breach” of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety which Nigeria is signatory to, which seeks among others to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.
"Nigeria does not need any super cassava. The genetic modification of cassava to produce Vitamin A is fraught with many dangers to the health of Nigerians who depend on cassava as a staple. Some years back the biotech industry engineered the so-called golden rice to be rich in Vitamin A, but one would need to eat 9 kilograms of that rice to have as much Vitamin A as one would have from eating just two small carrots! The golden rice was a golden hoax and the super cassava will turn out to be super fraud”, said ERA/FoEN
Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey in a statement issued in Lagos.
Mar 6, 2009
Rice prices put farmers at a disadvantage
By The Nation
Published on March 4, 2009
Unless Thailand develops a national plan for sustainable agriculture, we will continue to lose out to our competitors The gathering of several-hundred cassava planters who sealed off the Commerce Ministry on Monday is a reflection of the weakness of the Thai agricultural sector. Thailand loves to pride itself on being one of the world's major exporters of agricultural produce. But a series of protests by Thai farmers shows that this might no longer be the case. Thai farmers are failing in world competition.
We have long been dependent on our geographical advantage, but our competitors have recently managed to overcome such disadvantages. At the same time, Thai farmers and the responsible agencies and officials remain complacent.
The latest series of protests shows that Thai farmers cannot stand on their own two feet. They have been slow in developing and improving yields per rai and the quality of their products. As a result, most Thai farmers have failed to improve their competitiveness while our competitors are progressing.
For instance, Thai rice farmers only managed to get good prices last year because the other main rice-producing countries, such as Vietnam and India, had to cope with natural disasters such as droughts and flooding. But when there are no natural disasters in other countries, Thai farmers are not able to compete with others in terms of price.
Last year was a good one for Thai farmers as the rice price on the world market rose to a record high, thanks to food security concerns. But this year the situation has changed abruptly. Thai rice fails miserably when compared to the same product from Vietnam. Thai rice is sold at an unrealistically high price due to price distortion at home.
The Thai Rice Exporters' Association said that in February, for instance, 5-per-cent rice was sold at US$585(Bt21,146) per tonne compared to the $400 at which Vietnamese traders sold their produce. The Commerce Ministry is trying to defend the 38-per-cent drop in Thai rice exports in January, blaming the decline on the world market situation. But the lower demand for Thai rice is a result of it being too expensive, as well as the increased availability of rice from other exporting countries.
Over the past few years, Thai farmers have not only been complacent and failed to improve their yields, they have not developed new strains of Thai rice.
Vietnamese farmers, however, have developed several new rice strains over the past few years. Their rice yield per hectare is also better than Thailand's.
Instead of focusing on how to improve production in a sustainable manner, Thai farmers tend to ask for short-term price support measures from the government whenever they face sluggish rice prices at home. Politicians see this as an opportunity to spend quick money to increase their popularity, even though some price support measures are bad decisions.
Rice is one example that demonstrates the country's failure to develop its farming sector. It is also a consequence of the country's lack of a national agenda for farm goods management to ensure sustainable development in the sector.
Therefore, over the past month, hundreds of desperate farmers have taken turns to protest and to ask for price support. The Thai government likes to boast how the country is a leading agricultural nation, but the planters who grow rubber, sugar cane and maize, in recent months, have rallied at the government's door to ask for more subsidies.
The government should invest more energy and resources in promoting agriculture, which has long proved to be a backbone of the country. But so far, governments have tended to introduce short-term measures, which at times hurt farmers because they distort the market prices. An example is the domestic rice price support programme, which caused Thai rice export prices to escalate and thus made Thai rice non-competitive overseas.
Some planters are also fed up with the short-term policy. Chanthaburi cassava grower Usa Pitaraphodhi was quoted as saying that cassava planters were suffering from unclear government policies regarding guaranteed prices. The market speculation over the policy direction on farm prices made prices fluctuate.
In addition to the problems discussed above, short-term government price intervention tends to lead to the smuggling of commodities from neighbouring countries. A large volume of cassava from Cambodia is said to be brought into the country because some middle-men want to benefit from the pledging scheme. Besides this, price intervention tends to invite corruption as the scheme normally involves a large sum in handouts.
Previous governments have floated the idea of a national agenda for farm producers. But an actual plan to achieve the goal has never materialised, thanks to the frequent changes in government and the immediate political problems they have to deal with.
But it's imperative for the government to think of a national agenda to develop Thai agriculture over the long term. The focus should be turned to improving crop strains and increasing yields per rai. If farmers succeed in doing so, they will have a good degree of immunity against fluctuating farm prices. Otherwise, it won't take long for the Thai agricultural sector to lose out further, even though it remains one of the most promising sectors of the economy. It's time for the government to focus on the national agenda for farm policy and turn it into an effective action plan
Published on March 4, 2009
Unless Thailand develops a national plan for sustainable agriculture, we will continue to lose out to our competitors The gathering of several-hundred cassava planters who sealed off the Commerce Ministry on Monday is a reflection of the weakness of the Thai agricultural sector. Thailand loves to pride itself on being one of the world's major exporters of agricultural produce. But a series of protests by Thai farmers shows that this might no longer be the case. Thai farmers are failing in world competition.
We have long been dependent on our geographical advantage, but our competitors have recently managed to overcome such disadvantages. At the same time, Thai farmers and the responsible agencies and officials remain complacent.
The latest series of protests shows that Thai farmers cannot stand on their own two feet. They have been slow in developing and improving yields per rai and the quality of their products. As a result, most Thai farmers have failed to improve their competitiveness while our competitors are progressing.
For instance, Thai rice farmers only managed to get good prices last year because the other main rice-producing countries, such as Vietnam and India, had to cope with natural disasters such as droughts and flooding. But when there are no natural disasters in other countries, Thai farmers are not able to compete with others in terms of price.
Last year was a good one for Thai farmers as the rice price on the world market rose to a record high, thanks to food security concerns. But this year the situation has changed abruptly. Thai rice fails miserably when compared to the same product from Vietnam. Thai rice is sold at an unrealistically high price due to price distortion at home.
The Thai Rice Exporters' Association said that in February, for instance, 5-per-cent rice was sold at US$585(Bt21,146) per tonne compared to the $400 at which Vietnamese traders sold their produce. The Commerce Ministry is trying to defend the 38-per-cent drop in Thai rice exports in January, blaming the decline on the world market situation. But the lower demand for Thai rice is a result of it being too expensive, as well as the increased availability of rice from other exporting countries.
Over the past few years, Thai farmers have not only been complacent and failed to improve their yields, they have not developed new strains of Thai rice.
Vietnamese farmers, however, have developed several new rice strains over the past few years. Their rice yield per hectare is also better than Thailand's.
Instead of focusing on how to improve production in a sustainable manner, Thai farmers tend to ask for short-term price support measures from the government whenever they face sluggish rice prices at home. Politicians see this as an opportunity to spend quick money to increase their popularity, even though some price support measures are bad decisions.
Rice is one example that demonstrates the country's failure to develop its farming sector. It is also a consequence of the country's lack of a national agenda for farm goods management to ensure sustainable development in the sector.
Therefore, over the past month, hundreds of desperate farmers have taken turns to protest and to ask for price support. The Thai government likes to boast how the country is a leading agricultural nation, but the planters who grow rubber, sugar cane and maize, in recent months, have rallied at the government's door to ask for more subsidies.
The government should invest more energy and resources in promoting agriculture, which has long proved to be a backbone of the country. But so far, governments have tended to introduce short-term measures, which at times hurt farmers because they distort the market prices. An example is the domestic rice price support programme, which caused Thai rice export prices to escalate and thus made Thai rice non-competitive overseas.
Some planters are also fed up with the short-term policy. Chanthaburi cassava grower Usa Pitaraphodhi was quoted as saying that cassava planters were suffering from unclear government policies regarding guaranteed prices. The market speculation over the policy direction on farm prices made prices fluctuate.
In addition to the problems discussed above, short-term government price intervention tends to lead to the smuggling of commodities from neighbouring countries. A large volume of cassava from Cambodia is said to be brought into the country because some middle-men want to benefit from the pledging scheme. Besides this, price intervention tends to invite corruption as the scheme normally involves a large sum in handouts.
Previous governments have floated the idea of a national agenda for farm producers. But an actual plan to achieve the goal has never materialised, thanks to the frequent changes in government and the immediate political problems they have to deal with.
But it's imperative for the government to think of a national agenda to develop Thai agriculture over the long term. The focus should be turned to improving crop strains and increasing yields per rai. If farmers succeed in doing so, they will have a good degree of immunity against fluctuating farm prices. Otherwise, it won't take long for the Thai agricultural sector to lose out further, even though it remains one of the most promising sectors of the economy. It's time for the government to focus on the national agenda for farm policy and turn it into an effective action plan
Feb 25, 2009
Potential mealbug problem in cassava
From: Reinhardt Howeler CIAT-BANGKOK
To: "Jarungsit Limsila", "Wang Wenquang" , "Wani Hadi Utomo" , "Marjuki" , "Sholihin" , "yudi widodo" , "Wargiono" , "Augustinus Omar Rahmanadi" , "Jonathan Schofield" , "Rod Lefroy" , "Tin Maung Aye" , "Keith Fahrney" , "Lao Thao" , "Thiphavong Boupha" , "Hongthong Phimmasan" , "Viengsavanh Phimphachanvongsod" , "Phoumi Inthapanya" , "Phanthasin Khanthavong" , "Rob Kelly" , "Silinthone Sacklokham" , "Engku Ismail Engku Ahmad" , "Narul Nahar Esa" , "Tan Swee Lian" , "Algerico Mariscal" , "Dioscoro Bolatete Jr." , "Tran Ngoc Ngoan" , "Nguyen Vu Thai" , "Nguyen Thi Hoa Ly" , "Hoang Kim" , "Phuong Nguyen" , "Nguyen Huu Hy" , "Pham Thi Nhan" , "Nam Ho Dai" , "Khanh Ton That Minh" , "Tiago Wandschneider"
Date: Tuesday, 17 February, 2009, 11:32 AM
Dear friends and colleagues:
You may be aware that two insects have been causing serious damage to cassava in Thailand during this past year. One is the spiraling white fly (Aleurodicus disperses), which has long existed in many countries in Asia, on many different crops, but seldom did serious damage to cassava. Last year the infestation was quite severe. Even so, this insect affects mostly the lower leaves and thus has less impact on yield. Spraying insecticides may be counterproductive as it may kill the biological control agents.
The second insect is more worrisome. In many parts of Asia we have had a minor problem in cassava with the striped-mealy bug, Ferrisia virgata, which caused only minor damage. However, late last year and especially during the current dry season in Thailand, there is a serious mealy bug infestation in various parts of the country. Dr. Bellotti, the CIAT cassava entomologist, who visited Thailand in October, suspected that the increased damage was done by one or more new species of mealy bugs, possibly Phenococcus manihoti and/or Phenococcus herrinni, which have also caused serious damage in Africa and Latin America, but have not previously been observed in Asia (including India). Thai entomologists agree that this is probably a new and more dangerous species, and they are trying to identify the exact species and possible biological control agents. Since CIAT/IITA collaboration during the 1980s was very successful in bringing a similar new infestation of P. herrinni in Africa under control, we may consider a similar effort in Asia with the possible introduction of effective biological control agents from Latin America into Asia. But before this is done, we first need to identify the exact species causing the damage and to get some indication of the seriousness of the problem and the extent of its spread. Thus, with this Email, I would like to request everyone to report to the CIAT-Bangkok office any serious or unusual infestations of both the whitefly and mealy bugs (or other insect or disease problems) on cassava in your area.
In addition, since mealy bugs are easily transported on planting material, it is very dangerous to take any stakes or vegetative planting material across borders, especially from Thailand, but even more so from Africa, Latin America or India (where cassava mosaic disease is a serious problem). Since these new insect pests have the potential to devastate the cassava industry in all of Asia, your help and collaboration is essential to bring this problem under control.
With best regards, Reinhardt
Reinhardt Howeler
CIAT, c/o FCRI, Dept. of Agriculture
Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Office telephone: +66-02579-7551
Office telephone and fax: +66-02940-5541
Mobile phone: +66-089-2005799
Home phone: +66-02960-3839
Email: r.howeler@cgiar.org
ciat-bangkok@cgiar.org
For Vietnam C/c: Dr. Hoang Kim
Faculty of Agronomy, Nong Lam University
Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District,
Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM
Email: hoangkim_vietnam@yahoo.com
hoangkim@hcmuaf.edu.vn
Mob. + 84. 903 613024
To: "Jarungsit Limsila"
Date: Tuesday, 17 February, 2009, 11:32 AM
Dear friends and colleagues:
You may be aware that two insects have been causing serious damage to cassava in Thailand during this past year. One is the spiraling white fly (Aleurodicus disperses), which has long existed in many countries in Asia, on many different crops, but seldom did serious damage to cassava. Last year the infestation was quite severe. Even so, this insect affects mostly the lower leaves and thus has less impact on yield. Spraying insecticides may be counterproductive as it may kill the biological control agents.
The second insect is more worrisome. In many parts of Asia we have had a minor problem in cassava with the striped-mealy bug, Ferrisia virgata, which caused only minor damage. However, late last year and especially during the current dry season in Thailand, there is a serious mealy bug infestation in various parts of the country. Dr. Bellotti, the CIAT cassava entomologist, who visited Thailand in October, suspected that the increased damage was done by one or more new species of mealy bugs, possibly Phenococcus manihoti and/or Phenococcus herrinni, which have also caused serious damage in Africa and Latin America, but have not previously been observed in Asia (including India). Thai entomologists agree that this is probably a new and more dangerous species, and they are trying to identify the exact species and possible biological control agents. Since CIAT/IITA collaboration during the 1980s was very successful in bringing a similar new infestation of P. herrinni in Africa under control, we may consider a similar effort in Asia with the possible introduction of effective biological control agents from Latin America into Asia. But before this is done, we first need to identify the exact species causing the damage and to get some indication of the seriousness of the problem and the extent of its spread. Thus, with this Email, I would like to request everyone to report to the CIAT-Bangkok office any serious or unusual infestations of both the whitefly and mealy bugs (or other insect or disease problems) on cassava in your area.
In addition, since mealy bugs are easily transported on planting material, it is very dangerous to take any stakes or vegetative planting material across borders, especially from Thailand, but even more so from Africa, Latin America or India (where cassava mosaic disease is a serious problem). Since these new insect pests have the potential to devastate the cassava industry in all of Asia, your help and collaboration is essential to bring this problem under control.
With best regards, Reinhardt
Reinhardt Howeler
CIAT, c/o FCRI, Dept. of Agriculture
Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Office telephone: +66-02579-7551
Office telephone and fax: +66-02940-5541
Mobile phone: +66-089-2005799
Home phone: +66-02960-3839
Email: r.howeler@cgiar.org
ciat-bangkok@cgiar.org
For Vietnam C/c: Dr. Hoang Kim
Faculty of Agronomy, Nong Lam University
Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District,
Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM
Email: hoangkim_vietnam@yahoo.com
hoangkim@hcmuaf.edu.vn
Mob. + 84. 903 613024
Feb 20, 2009
Philippine Ethanol Industry Strong Despite Falling Demand For Oil
AHN-USA, February 19, 2009
Manila, Philippines (AHN) - Despite the downturn in the ethanol industry in the U.S. due to falling demand for oil, the ethanol industry in the Philippines is still pushing through with the operation or construction of production facilities in southern Philippines.
One of the leading players in the industry, San Carlos BioEnergy, started commercial operations of its $52 million (2.5 billion pesos) commercial integrated ethanol distillery and co-generation power plant in mid-January. The facility could produce 125,000 liters of ethanol daily or 30 million liters yearly and generate 8 megawatts of power. The feedstock will come from 400,000 tons of sugar cane sourced from 9,000 hectares of sugar land at San Carlos City in the province of Negros Occidental.
Another major player, Basic Energy, entered into a memorandum of agreement with Canadian firm Nexum Energy, to jointly develop a bioethanol plant in the Philippines. When completed, Basic will have a 200,000 liters daily production capacity using cassava as a feedstock, according to Oscar de Venecia Jr., president of Basic Energy. The company shifted to cassava as feedstock from initial plans to use sugar cane. Aside from the ethanol production, Basic's plant, to be located in Zamboanga del Norte, will generate 8 megawatts of green energy.
A third player, Roxol Energy Corporation, is also putting up a bioethanol plant in La Carlota City, also located in Negros Occidental. The Roxol plant will have a capacity of 10,000 liters per day and is expected to be operational by 2010.
In contrast, ethanol production facilities in the U.S. are facing a difficult time. VeraSun Energy, one of the largest producers of ethanol, suspended the operation of 12 out of 16 facilities, and is selling five of its plants. Aside from VeraSun, 24 out of 180 ethanol plants across the U.S. shuttered plants in the last three months, according to Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association trade group.
The move has prompted Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, to consider revisiting ethanol production targets set under the country's 2007 energy law.
The financial problems of U.S. ethanol producers was attributed to falling demand for ethanol as pump prices went down below $2 a gallon, spurred by the low demand for oil due to the global recession.
For the Philippine Department of Energy, its Alternative Fuels Program remains one of the five key components of the country's Energy Independence Agenda that aims to attain 60 percent energy self-sufficiency by 2010. Aside from ethanol production, the DOE is pushing for the development of other forms of clean energy such as geothermal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and hydrogen.
Mario Marasigan, director of DOE's Energy Utilization and Management Bureau, confirms the San Carlos operations will be sufficient to meet the 5 percent required biofuel mix with gasoline mandated by the Philippine Biofuels Act of 2006.
Other sectors are supporting the move to give alternative energy sources a push. The Development Bank of the Philippines signed a Memorandum of Understanding with three foreign energy firms to jointly develop viable and renewal energy projects in the Philippines.
Unconfirmed reports said San Carlos will set aside plans to increase ethanol production due to lack of long term contracts from oil companies and instead shift its resources to build a 15 megawatt biomass power plant. Meanwhile, Basic Energy shifted from sugar cane as feedstock to cassava because it could earn also on the side from the sale of cassava chips to animal feed manufacturers in the Philippines.
The adaptability to shift resources and change plans amid a volatile oil demand and turbulent economic times seems to be the reason why the Philippine ethanol industry is surviving better compared to its counterpart in the U.S.
Copyright © 2003 - 2009 AHN - All rights reserved.
Manila, Philippines (AHN) - Despite the downturn in the ethanol industry in the U.S. due to falling demand for oil, the ethanol industry in the Philippines is still pushing through with the operation or construction of production facilities in southern Philippines.
One of the leading players in the industry, San Carlos BioEnergy, started commercial operations of its $52 million (2.5 billion pesos) commercial integrated ethanol distillery and co-generation power plant in mid-January. The facility could produce 125,000 liters of ethanol daily or 30 million liters yearly and generate 8 megawatts of power. The feedstock will come from 400,000 tons of sugar cane sourced from 9,000 hectares of sugar land at San Carlos City in the province of Negros Occidental.
Another major player, Basic Energy, entered into a memorandum of agreement with Canadian firm Nexum Energy, to jointly develop a bioethanol plant in the Philippines. When completed, Basic will have a 200,000 liters daily production capacity using cassava as a feedstock, according to Oscar de Venecia Jr., president of Basic Energy. The company shifted to cassava as feedstock from initial plans to use sugar cane. Aside from the ethanol production, Basic's plant, to be located in Zamboanga del Norte, will generate 8 megawatts of green energy.
A third player, Roxol Energy Corporation, is also putting up a bioethanol plant in La Carlota City, also located in Negros Occidental. The Roxol plant will have a capacity of 10,000 liters per day and is expected to be operational by 2010.
In contrast, ethanol production facilities in the U.S. are facing a difficult time. VeraSun Energy, one of the largest producers of ethanol, suspended the operation of 12 out of 16 facilities, and is selling five of its plants. Aside from VeraSun, 24 out of 180 ethanol plants across the U.S. shuttered plants in the last three months, according to Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association trade group.
The move has prompted Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, to consider revisiting ethanol production targets set under the country's 2007 energy law.
The financial problems of U.S. ethanol producers was attributed to falling demand for ethanol as pump prices went down below $2 a gallon, spurred by the low demand for oil due to the global recession.
For the Philippine Department of Energy, its Alternative Fuels Program remains one of the five key components of the country's Energy Independence Agenda that aims to attain 60 percent energy self-sufficiency by 2010. Aside from ethanol production, the DOE is pushing for the development of other forms of clean energy such as geothermal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and hydrogen.
Mario Marasigan, director of DOE's Energy Utilization and Management Bureau, confirms the San Carlos operations will be sufficient to meet the 5 percent required biofuel mix with gasoline mandated by the Philippine Biofuels Act of 2006.
Other sectors are supporting the move to give alternative energy sources a push. The Development Bank of the Philippines signed a Memorandum of Understanding with three foreign energy firms to jointly develop viable and renewal energy projects in the Philippines.
Unconfirmed reports said San Carlos will set aside plans to increase ethanol production due to lack of long term contracts from oil companies and instead shift its resources to build a 15 megawatt biomass power plant. Meanwhile, Basic Energy shifted from sugar cane as feedstock to cassava because it could earn also on the side from the sale of cassava chips to animal feed manufacturers in the Philippines.
The adaptability to shift resources and change plans amid a volatile oil demand and turbulent economic times seems to be the reason why the Philippine ethanol industry is surviving better compared to its counterpart in the U.S.
Copyright © 2003 - 2009 AHN - All rights reserved.
Nigeria: 'Super Cassava' to Enter Field Trials
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
Aisling Irwin, 19 February 2009
Chicago — An ambitious attempt to bioengineer cassava into a "complete meal" took a step forward last week with the approval of field trials for the plant by Nigeria's National Biosafety Committee.
The genetically modified cassava contains 30 times as much beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, as its normal counterpart. Ultimately it is hoped the cassava will contain increased levels of iron, protein, zinc and vitamin E that will meet the minimum daily allowance in a 500 gram meal.
"This is one of the most ambitious projects ever attempted in a major crop plant," said Richard Sayre of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St Louis, Missouri, who spoke at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Chicago, the United States last week (13 February).
Sayre directs the BioCassava Plus programme, which began in 2005 under the Grand Challenges for Global Health Programme. The challenge is to provide complete nutrition in a single staple crop.
Some 250 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa - and 800 million people globally - rely on cassava as their main source of energy. But it is low in nutrients, vulnerable to plant viruses, and it lasts only two days without processing.
As well as adding extra nutrients, the team has successfully produced varieties with increased virus resistance, decreased amounts of poisonous cyanides - which can remain in cassava if the crop is poorly processed - and a longer shelf life.
"We're transforming it into a staple that will provide complete nutrition," Sayre told SciDev.Net. Laboratory and greenhouse tests have been successful - for example, iron levels were increased ninefold, zinc fourfold and protein fourfold. The next stage is confined field trials - small-scale field trials to evaluate the performance of the crop under stringent conditions.
If those succeed, there will be nutrition trials, first in animals and then in humans. Nigeria's approval is the first it has granted for a GM confined field trial, said Sayre - though the document awaits the signature of the country's environment minister. The Nigerian National Root Crops Research Initiative will oversee the trials.
So far the traits have been introduced individually into plants. The first product with multiple traits is likely to contain just elevated vitamin A, iron and protein as well as virus resistance.
"To add the other four is going to be technologically more challenging," said Sayre.
The team also hopes to begin confined field trials in Kenya, to be overseen by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, before the end of 2009.
"We are now in the process of training African scientists in our labs. They are going to learn the technology to make a transgenic cassava plant. They will return and make the final products themselves," said Sayre.
Aisling Irwin, 19 February 2009
Chicago — An ambitious attempt to bioengineer cassava into a "complete meal" took a step forward last week with the approval of field trials for the plant by Nigeria's National Biosafety Committee.
The genetically modified cassava contains 30 times as much beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, as its normal counterpart. Ultimately it is hoped the cassava will contain increased levels of iron, protein, zinc and vitamin E that will meet the minimum daily allowance in a 500 gram meal.
"This is one of the most ambitious projects ever attempted in a major crop plant," said Richard Sayre of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St Louis, Missouri, who spoke at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Chicago, the United States last week (13 February).
Sayre directs the BioCassava Plus programme, which began in 2005 under the Grand Challenges for Global Health Programme. The challenge is to provide complete nutrition in a single staple crop.
Some 250 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa - and 800 million people globally - rely on cassava as their main source of energy. But it is low in nutrients, vulnerable to plant viruses, and it lasts only two days without processing.
As well as adding extra nutrients, the team has successfully produced varieties with increased virus resistance, decreased amounts of poisonous cyanides - which can remain in cassava if the crop is poorly processed - and a longer shelf life.
"We're transforming it into a staple that will provide complete nutrition," Sayre told SciDev.Net. Laboratory and greenhouse tests have been successful - for example, iron levels were increased ninefold, zinc fourfold and protein fourfold. The next stage is confined field trials - small-scale field trials to evaluate the performance of the crop under stringent conditions.
If those succeed, there will be nutrition trials, first in animals and then in humans. Nigeria's approval is the first it has granted for a GM confined field trial, said Sayre - though the document awaits the signature of the country's environment minister. The Nigerian National Root Crops Research Initiative will oversee the trials.
So far the traits have been introduced individually into plants. The first product with multiple traits is likely to contain just elevated vitamin A, iron and protein as well as virus resistance.
"To add the other four is going to be technologically more challenging," said Sayre.
The team also hopes to begin confined field trials in Kenya, to be overseen by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, before the end of 2009.
"We are now in the process of training African scientists in our labs. They are going to learn the technology to make a transgenic cassava plant. They will return and make the final products themselves," said Sayre.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)