Category: AGRICULTURE

Coal making

Making coals from Cocos through charcoal brick kiln

by Ellaine Grace L. Nagpala

Coconut (Cocos nucifera) remains to be the top cultivated crop in the Philippines.  Out of the 12 million hectares of farmlands in the country, 3.1 million hectares of it is devoted to coconut production.  With the vast size of farmland devoted to coconut farming, it can be said that a large percentage of the country’s population still depends on coconut for their living.

Over 3.5 million coconut farmers are widely distributed in different parts of the country, mostly in Southern Luzon and in different parts of Mindanao.

To help the coconut farmers gain extra income while attending to their farm activities, the group of Engineer Rosella B. Villaruel of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) in Region X1 came up with a charcoal brick kiln where coconut shells can be turned into quality charcoals.

What are kilns?
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber used to harden, burn or dry materials, it could be utilized in drying and heating wood to produce firewood and charcoal, or in firing-materials used in ceramic-making.

Traditional means
Kilns were first utilized in Bago Oshiro, Davao City under the Philippine-German Coconut Project (PGCP) in 1995.

In the Philippines, charcoals are traditionally produced using drum kilns where a standard oil drum with an approximate capacity of 55 gallons is used. With the use of a drum kiln, charcoals can be produced from 600 pieces of split coconut shells.  However, charcoal workers encountered problems with regards to the operation, durability and efficiency of the drum kiln.

The charcoal brick kiln
The batch type brick kiln was fabricated as an alternative to the traditional methods of charcoal production and to ease the operations in charcoal making of the charcoal workers.

The brick kiln is made of 2”x4”x8” standard rectangular bricks, constructed in a dome-shape.  The kiln’s dome structure is for the purpose of optimal carbonization process.  Its inside has a base diameter of 1.2 meters and a net height of 1.10 meters with an approximate volume of 0.73 cubic meters.  This prototype kiln can accommodate approximately 3,000 pieces of average split shells.  This could be increased if the shells are semi-crushed.

The charcoals produced by the kiln from the coco shell wood passed the standard of a good quality charcoal which possesses a fixed carbon content of 86.5%, ash of 1.4%, volatile combustible matter of 9.6% and 2.5% moisture content.

The charcoal brick kiln is expected to last for five years or more with an initial investment of PhP 4,100 while the drum kiln has a serviceable life span of six months to one year, with each drum costing PhP 500.

User-friendly
One problem encountered by the charcoal workers with the drum kiln is its difficulty to operate.  Since metals are strong conductors of heat, the drum kiln becomes difficult to handle as it turns very hot during the process.

Moreover, the smoke being emitted under the drum becomes a nuisance to the workers.  As such, the brick kiln was designed to be user- friendly.

Bricks being resistors of heat makes the charcoal brick kiln easier to operate.  The kiln was also designed in such a way that it will suppress the heat pressure inside and prevent it form leaking outside the kiln.  In this way, the kiln will be convenient for the operators as they will no longer have trouble with the heat coming from the kiln.  Also, the smoke coming from the kiln not be a problem for the workers since a ‘nose’ for the emission of smoke is included in the structure which is strategically placed at the top of the kiln.  This way, it will be easier for the operators to recharge the kilns.

Time saving
The proper procedure for making good quality charcoals only requires 16 percent of the total time to produce charcoals with the brick kiln as compared to the drum kiln which requires 90 percent operation time.

With the charcoal brick kiln, 74 percent time more will be saved in charcoal making.  For a farmer who needs to attend to his farm and his family, and his other chores, the 74 percent time that can be saved means more time to attend to his tasks.

In general, this implies that the kiln is not only designed to increase the capacity of charcoal produced but also for the benefit of the worker. end

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This article was based on ‘A comparative study between batch type brick kilns and drum kilns using decision tree analysis’ by Engineer Rose B. Villaruel and Mr. Kalvin Mesias Balucanag of the Philippine Coconut Authority in Region XI.  The Batch Type Brick Kiln was funded by the Philippine Coconut Authority and the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology.

http://www.bar.gov.ph/bardigest/aprjun07_makingcoals.asp

Eliminating the pesky fruit flies

Eliminating the pesky fruit flies

by Junelyn S. de la Rosa

Native to the Philippines, the oriental fruitfly (Bactrocera Philippinensis) is a very destructive pest to edible fruits like mango, guava, breadfruit and papaya.

Eradicating the fruit fly using bait control could be done in two stages using the Male Annihilation Technique (MAT) and the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). First, the researchers reduced the population of male oriental fruit flies to a minimum so that mating would not occur. Male oriental fruit flies were trapped using methyl eugenol- a powerful male attractant, with an insecticide such as Naled (Dibrom) or Fipronil.

Cordelitos (lengths of 6-ply cotton string about 30-45 cm) or caneite (compressed fibreboard) blocks (50 mm x 50 mm x 12.7 mm), or coconut husk blocks (50 mm x 50 mm x 10 mm) were soaked in the bait material and distributed in the field at 400 pieces per square kilometer. This treatment was repeated every eight weeks. The baits were placed on top of tree trunks or wooden poles, well out of the reach of children or animals. This technique is called the Male Annihilation Technique (MAT).

Then the residual fruitflies were eradicated using the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) or the sterile male technique. Sterilizing insects is a new technique where insects are either treated chemically, genetically, or with radiation to be infertile. In the case of male fruit flies, they are subjected to radiation to make them sterile. The method aims to wipe out the fly population by introducing sterile males that cannot produce any offspring when they mate with the female fruit flies.

Sterile flies have been used in many countries. In the past, both male and female flies were released. Sterile female flies’ eggs did not develop, however, some skin damage to the fruit did result. To counter this problem, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed a genetic technique that separates males from females in several fly species. Flies released in Hawaii were only male sterile flies. Continue reading “Eliminating the pesky fruit flies”

Organic Weed Killer

Vinegar: The effective weedkiller

By Rita T. Dela Cruz

BAR today – April –June 2002

 

Vinegar is part of every household’s kitchen but did you know that this sour-tasting liquid is an effective herbicide for organic farming?

This is the major finding of a study conducted by Jay Radhakrishnan, John Teasdale and Ben Coffman, researchers from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) the principal scientific research agency of the US Department of Ariculture (USDA). Although, a few farmers have already been using natural agents like baking soda, garlic and vinegar as herbicide, there were really no scientific studies to back-up that these agents are effective. Thus, scientists from ARS conducted greenhouse and field researches to determine the effectiveness of vinegar as herbicide.

To conform to organic farming standards, the scientist used vinegar derived from fruits (grapes and apples) or grains (malt). Naturally processed vinegar is produced by rotting the fruits or the grains under an anaerobic or “no-oxygen condition”. Through fermentation, the sugars from these plant sources are converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide. Through oxidation, the alcohol reacts with air to form vinegar.

Vinegar that is prepared from plants sources contains 5% acetic acid, a pungent, colorless acid, which is basically the main component of vinegar. Continue reading “Organic Weed Killer”

Carabo raising – kalabaw

Carabao Fattening

Feedlot fattening of the carabao is one of the fastest ways to increase carabeef production. It is simply feeding the animal with locally available feeds but are of good quality and least cost. More so, feedlot fattening becomes especially useful in areas where farm by-products such as sugar cane tops, pineapple pulp, corn fodder, cover crops and the like are abundantly available.

In the Philippines at present carabao feedlot fattening has a very limited scope. The majority of the carabao raisers are small farmers whose primary purpose for maintaining1 to 3 carabaos is for draft. A secondary purpose is to sell them eventually for meat. The term of its service on the farm however, depends on its efficiency as a worker or when there is an exceptional price offered for it.

Both the cattle anthe carabao are usually fed and fattener on the available crop residues during the season. In certain barrios of Batangas, crop residues and weeds are supplemented with commercial starter mash at a rate of about 1.5 to 2 kilograms a day.

The following are the classes of carabaos fattened for the market:

1. Retired work animals on account of old age and viciousness.
2. Feeder stock about 2-1/2 to 3 years of age, home grown or purchased in the market.
3. Carabaos below 3 years old but not suited for breeding or work purposes.

Advantage of feedlot Fattening

1. Fast turnover of capital. Fattening of carabaos may be attained in a reasonable length of time depending on management and nutrition.
2. The animals are less prone to disease because of limited time spent on the farm.
3. Profitable utilization of farm by-products generally going to waste.
4. Housing of feeder stock does not need a big area. In open lot confinement, the suggested floor space allowance is 4.0 to 4.7 sq. m per mature feeder, 2.8 to 3.7 sq. m. for yearlings and 1.8 to 2.8 sq. m for caracalves
5. Management is relatively simple. For backyard fattening, the phases of management involve only feeding the fattener with any cheap by-products, forage or some concentrates available. When animals is ready for marketing or if a lucrative price is offered for it, then the animal is sold. However, management  under commercial scale is more intricate. Apart from the regular purchase of feeds and following of the feeding program, other practices involved are buying of stocks, medication and marketing of fattened animals.

Contrasting disadvantage of feedlot fattening.
1. The need for large capital investment. This however holds true only for the commercial scheme of fattening where large amount of  money is needed for the periodic purchase of feeds and stocks, Under backyard fattening, when only one of two carabaos are involved, the problem is not usually encountered. In fact, fattening becomes only incidental; that is when work animals are retired from the farm.
2. The need to have skills in buying and selling of sticks. This statement is true when feedlot fattening exists as a true business or in a commercial scale.
3. In the commercial scale, the availability of feeder stock maybe limited.

There is money in carabao feedlot fattening whether it is in a backyard or commercial scale . However, its success depends mainly on three factors:

1. Feeds and feeding. The profits from feedlot fattening greatly depends on the feeds and labor costs to produce a kilogram weight gain. The labor cost may not be very significant in the backyard scale, but for commercial or semi-commercial scale, the length of the fattening period has a profound effect on the cost of production.
2. The feeder stocks should have that inherent capacity to fatten at a much shorter period of time. Retired animals may not compare with the young feeder stocks, but they are feedlot fattened in order to improve the market value.
3. Feedlot facilities. Under backyard conditions, the carabao may just be housed nder a nipa shed, however, it should provide the necessary facilities for its protection and comfort. Floor, feeding and watering spaces should always be given important considerations regardless of the scheme ( commercial or backyard).
A)    In an open shed, the beam of the roofing should at least be 3.05 m high to allow adequate ventilation and cooling.
B)    Fencing in an open lot should at least be 1.2 to 1.5m high and strong enough to hold animals may just be tethered securely to a post or in the field, but must have access to the feeds and water.
C)    Adequate watering and feeding trough. For caracalves  weighing up ro 200 kg the top of the feed bunk should be about 46 cm high. For older animals, the height of the feed bunk should be 61 to 76 cm or less. The depth of the bunk should be 25 cm to minimize feed losses and to make feeds readily available. Feeding space for calves should be about 46 cm   per animal and for older animals, 61 to 76 cm. Provide at least 30 cm of watering space for every 10 heads if the open tank is used. Continue reading “Carabo raising – kalabaw”