SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 16 July)—The remote village of Das-agan, once known as the killing fields of the dreaded “Lost Command” in the 1980s, is now seeing promising livelihood prospects for citronella (Cymbopogon nardus) farmers.
This development follows the installation of a distillation plant by the provincial government on Friday (July 12). The plant will produce essential oil and other by-products that can be marketed both locally and internationally at a high cost.
The Lost Command, a ragtag group of abusive former government soldiers led by Philippine Constabulary provincial commander Carlos Lademora to fight New People’s Army rebels, had established a military camp in Das-agan, where they summarily executed hundreds of suspected rebels.
Michael Leo Cane Torralba, the executive assistant of Governor Santiago Cane Jr., highlighted the potential economic benefits based on their local market research. He explained that a hectare of citronella could yield at least 20 liters of essential oil per harvest every four months. This translates to an income of approximately P500,000 per harvest, or P1.5 million annually.
The essential oils of citronella is used in perfumes, repellant candles, body lotions, bath soaps, pesticide and other products.
Gov. Cane said that the by-product, hydrosol, is already being used by big hotels in Metro Manila as an effective deodorizers in the comfort rooms.
With this new distillation plant, citronella farmers in Das-agan can look forward to increased income and improved livelihoods. The ability to produce high-value essential oils and by-products offers a significant economic opportunity for the local community, paving the way for sustainable growth and development, he added.
The distillation facility, which can accommodate 300 kilos for every extraction activity, was designed by engineer Rudy Cane, younger brother of the governor. The engineer’s inventions have won several awards, among them his single phase elevator awarded during the Mindanao Invention Contest and Exhibits in 2006, and his pneumatic boiler in 2009.
Joselito Lanzarote, chairman of Barangay Das-agan Farmers Association (BADAFA), said the planting of citronella grass was done by chance during the pandemic, thinking that, like the “tanglad” or lemmon glass (Cymbopogon citratus), the plant is edible and can be sold at the public market, pork lechon houses, and chicken lechon sellers, only to experience dizziness when they mixed it with chicken soup.
Through his own research, Lanzarote has found out that citronella has wide and promising market, both locally and abroad, especially if it is already extracted into essential oil.
Lanzarote first tried to extract essential oil through manual process with a mix of coconut milk, but their produce would not pass the standards.
The installation of the facility is expected to draw more BADAFA members to grow citronella since only Lanzarote has developed two hectares of this crop.
Lanzarote said he has now allocated two of the four hectares of his farm to citronella crops, expecting he could earn an average of P3 million per harvest.
He said he had already communicated with marketing contacts abroad, especially in Canada and India, who assured that they will get supply from him as he is selling them at a price much lower compared to the current suppliers.
He said that once he could send product samples, then the marketing deal would be most likely done.
Torralba said farming citronella is less hassle compared to other crops because harvesting entails only cutting the grass, leaving the roots intact. It will grow again, and harvested the same way, the cycle lasting up to 10 years.
Because citronella will grow on its own without much bother after planting, it is called the “lazy man’s crop,” Torralba said. It looks and smells somewhat like the “tanglad” (lemon grass) but stronger, he added.
Gov Cane told BADAFA members that with the facility now set in place, there would value added to their yield, but he reminded them to be industrious in tending their citronella farms.
He said that the distiller will not be exclusive to BADAFA farmers, but can also be used by other farmers as a common service facility.
Cane found keen interest in citronella farming because he believes it would help uplift the economic conditions of farmer-enrollees of the Upland Sustainable Agriforestry Development (USAD), the centerpiece program of the provincial government, that helped Agusan del Sur graduate from the “Club 20” poorest provinces in the country.
For her part, San Francisco Mayor Grace Carmel Paredes-Bravo told BADAFA members to level up by turning their group into a cooperative where they can bond themselves stronger with the aim of sustainably strengthening their livelihood. (Chris V. Panganiban / MindaNews)
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