By DANNY O. SAGUNPIA Dagupan Infocenter

STA. MARIA -Sweet sorghum may replace cotton and tobacco in 10 years as major agricultural crop in the Ilocos Region, an agriculture expert has projected.

Dr. William Dar, who heads a biofuel research center based in India, said that enough research work has been done on sweet sorghum and the crop proved to be cost-efffective.

Sweet sorghum, was found to have multiple uses - food, animal feed, forage and fuel (ethanol). It is drought-tolerant, high yielding for both sweet stalk and grain, and a renewable source of energy.

Dar, former agriculture secretary, keynoted last Thursday the Conference on Pro-Poor Bio-Power Development Program in Region 1 at the Pangasinan State University campus here. He is director-general of ICRISAT, the research center in India.

While he fully endorsed sweet sorghum for commercial production in northern Luzon with its climatic conditions, he urged the conference participants to go slow on full-scale jathropa plantation and conduct studies first.

Unlike sweet sorghum, research on jathropa as another alternative fuel, has just begun, he pointed ou,t expressing doubts on news reports claiming that some 17 million hectares of lands have been planted to jathropa in India. “Baka wala pang one million,” he noted, reminding the audience that he himself is based there doing research on biofuels.

Told about a study furnished the regional office of the environment and natural resources of the plant’s viability as a major crop for Region 1, Dar reacted pointblank, “Baka table study lang yan.” He asked the DENR representatives if they had verified the claims. “Nakita nyo ba yong sinasabing plantation nila at nagsagawa kayo ng study?,” he asked.

He said that so far no jathropa variety has been identifed in the country yet, and even in India where jathropa seeds are being sourced out. “Ang nangyayari, kinokolekta nila ang mga seeds doon at yon ang binebenta rito,” he bared.

He said that a variety of the plant is actually determined only after domestication of it for at least 7 years.

The problem now, he said, is that government is promoting massive nursery production and planting. “Are we sure of the variety?,” he asked. What is worrying, he warned, is that farmers or investors may just lose money if the plant bears no fruit even after three years. The seeds are to be processed into biodiesel.

Dar urged research institutions like state universities to speak up and tell the truth about their studies, if any.

He said that he had advised President Arroyo against full scale planting of the plant in the absence of enough research and lauded the President though for endorsing sweet sorghum as a major crop for the country. She personally saw the potential of the crop as biofuel in her visit recently to India, Dar said.

Dar later also cautioned his listeners against putting aside food security as priority in favor of energy security. “Kailangang mabalanse yan,” he stressed.

The unabated rise in the prices of fossil fuel and its possible depletion in the years to come aside from environmental concerns prompted governments and research centers to look for alternative energy sources.