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TAKE it
from Negros Oriental Governor Emilio Macias.
The lowly
malunggay could indeed be the secret of his family’s long
life.
“My
father and my grandfather, who are malunggay eaters, lived
up to almost 90. I am only 73, and I hope to surpass (them),”says
the governor, a medical doctor before he joined politics.
 He
recalls that during the Marcos administration, there was
already a craze about malunggay, being a solution to the
malnutrition problem because of its high vitamin A
content.
Not many
people know that the late President Ferdinand Marcos was
also a malunggay addict, consuming soup littered with
green leaves in every meal in addition to the legendary
saluyot and labong (bamboo shoots) as his main fare.
Now,
Macias just hopes that the Department of Agriculture (DA)
gets serious in promoting the green leafy vegetable, which
to the Negrenses have been the “poor man’s food”.
“If you
examine every Visayan cooking in this province, more
likely, you’ll find malunggay either at noon time or night
time,” he says.
According
to Gregorio Paltinca, the provincial agriculturist, “kahit
walang karne, kahit walang isda, ’pag may malunggay, ok na
‘yan.
It turned
out that at least three Negros Oriental towns – Bacong,
Dauin and Zamboangita, have become major sources of
malunggay, which Paltinca explains thrives in volcanic and
sandy-loam soil.
At
present, the Negrenses just use malunggay for vegetable,
but they hope that the province would benefit most once it
gets the much-needed boost for industrial and
pharmaceutical purposes.
Director
Alice Ilaga of the DA’s Biotechnology Program, when asked
what’s the next best thing that can happen to agriculture,
quipped: Malunggay!
How?
Ilaga was quick to answer not only the how, but the “Ws”
as well: “It can save lives, increase incomes, generate
millions of jobs, utilize vast tracts of idle agricultural
lands, make the Philippines globally competitive, impact
local and international market, and help attain
socio-economic equity.”
Ilaga
says the malunggay, known scientifically as Moringa
oleifera Lamk, is one of the of the world’s most useful,
yet often overlooked, plants.
Borrowing
a line from Goethe, a famous German writer and
philosopher, Ilaga says “the hardest thing to see is what
is in front of your eyes.”
A
nutritious veggie
The DA
Biotechnology Program is aggressively pursuing a program
which aims to develop the agri-business potentials of the
vegetable as part of the government’s poverty-alleviation
program.
“All
parts of malunggay are useful,” says Director Ilaga.
The
leaves and pods of malunggay have nutritional and
medicinal value. Its seeds are believed to be effective
for water purification, for cooking and also used as
cosmetics, lubricants, or even green manure.
The
Church World Service and Education Concerns for Hunger
Organization described malunggay as the “natural nutrition
for the tropics.”
Gram for
gram, malunggay has seven times the vitamin C found in
oranges, four times the vitamin A found in carrots, four
times the calcium and two times the protein found in milk
and three times the potassium found in bananas.
The seeds
of malunggay contain 40 percent oil.
The
malunggay or moringa oil can produce excellent massage oil
because it has good anti-oxidant properties and shelf life
ranging from four to five years.
Since it
is an anti-oxidant, Ilaga said that malunggay oil is good
for cooking and can be an alternative for olive oil, as it
is odorless and has a mild nutty flavor.
Traditional healers use malunggay to treat certain
disorders like asthma, cancer, circulatory or endocrine
disorders among others.
The
National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) has adopted its
own malunggay backyard farming project as a strategy to
alleviate poverty, because of its many uses.
All
purpose oily plant
“Its
leaves, flowers and pods can be used for food. The seed
powder is a water purifier for households, and the tree
itself can be used as a living fence. Malunggay leaves,
experts swear, is also a natural pesticide and can be used
as a domestic cleaning agent. All parts of malunggay are
natural medicines,” says Ilaga.
The
leaves are good for curing headache, bleeding from a
shallow cut, bacterial and fungal skin problem, can be
used as anti-inflammatory, or cure for gastric ulcers and
diarrhea. Scientists also believe that malunggay can
effectively prevent or fight malnutrition.
The
seeds, on the other hand, can treat arthritis, rheumatism,
gout, cramp, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), boils,
and urinary problems. It is also used as relaxant for
epilepsy.
The
roots, bark and gum of malunggay likewise have potential
medicinal value which may surprise even scientists, says
Ilaga, explaining why they are planning to embark on a
more comprehensive study of the health impact of the
“miracle vegetable” in Philippine setting.
Biofortification
According
to Ilaga, as part of its program to promote biotechnology,
the DA is now strategically positioning itself for the
commercial planting of seeds for malunggay oil production.
A
multinational food company has expressed keen interest in
putting up a processing plant in the Philippines for the
purpose, which will boost commercial planting of malunggay
in the future, says Ilaga.
“A noodle
company is also eyeing malunggay for biofortification of
noodles as part of its commitment to support the program
to fight malnutrition, which is prevalent in the
countryside,” she added.
“Malunggay has a lot of potential. The Philippines can
penetrate the international market in producing malunggay
oil from its seeds using advance technology to extract oil
from enzymes,” Ilaga said.
Malunggay
biotechnology
Ilaga
says biotechnology, in this particular endeavor, is a the
good agricultural practice, such as the use of
biopesticide, biofertilizer, bio-enhancer, and
bioprocessing of food, which can generate thousands of
jobs for Filipinos.
The
income potential of producing seed is estimated at
P218,000 to P521,000 per hectare per year, given that the
seed will be sold at P20 per kilo.
According
to Ilaga, their program has the potential of generating an
estimated 10,000 jobs per every 3,000 hectares of idle
agricultural lands which will be utilized for the
commercial and backyard farming of malunggay.
“Given
its nutritional value, it can be utilized in fortifying
sauces, juices, milk, bread, and most importantly, instant
noodles,” Ilaga says.
Ilaga
says malunggay is easy to grow. It tolerates a wide range
of environmental conditions. Planted either by direct
seeding, transplanting, or using hard-stem cuttings,
malunggay can produce seeds which can be harvested every
six months.
Stem
cuttings can also be used as propagation materials.
The
malunggay project
According
to Ilaga, they are now collaborating with various national
government agencies, including the Bureau of Plant
Industry (BPI), to study the development package
technology using the Nicaraguan experience as model.
She says
that the DA Biotech Program is also in the process of
developing a biotech protocol for the rapid propagation of
malunggay.
As part
of expanding the network of biotech advocates, the
establishment of the Biotechnology Information
Organization Network (BIONet) for malunggay in Laguna,
Quezon, Negros Oriental, CARAGA, Tarlac, CAR, Region 3 and
Ilocos Region is aggressively being pursued by the DA and
its partner-non-governmental organization, (NGOs).
The
partnership among the national government agencies was
facilitated by the DA, linking the Department of Health –
National Nutrition Council (DOH-NNC), BIONets; private
sector; and Local Government Units (LGUs) where there had
been national and local governments and private sector
collaboration, she said.
“In fact,
we now have malunggay nurseries and repositories in
strategic locations. We have malunggay biocommerce centers
in CARAGA, BPI and Tarlac, and the counterpart
private-sector initiated biocommerce centers in Pampanga,
Pangasinan, Tarlac and Negros Oriental,” says Ilaga.
To
develop a market that will boost and enhance the
agri-business potential of the lowly malunggay, Ilaga said
that the DA Biotechnology Program is linking up growers
with the local as well as international market through a
contract to buy.
Constant
communication and collaboration is being made, advocating
malunggay for government feeding program and nutritional
promotion.
Ilaga is
confident that opening up markets through results of
science-based researches with the collaboration of
concerned national government agencies and the private
sector will make the lowly malunggay’s comeback a success.
The state
of the market for malunggay products
The
Philippines is currently in the midst of developing the
local market for malunggay and its products. Despite being
behind other countries such as India and Nicaragua, the
Philippines’ malunggay industry is on its way to becoming
a global competitor with the help of the DA’s
Biotechnology Program.
All the
current excitement in malunggay farming in the country can
be attributed to the crop’s versatility as a food source
and as a natural ingredient that has a myriad of uses.
However, much speculation remains on the availability of
the market for malunggay products. The question of many
Filipino farmers intrigued by the plant’s potential as an
income-generating crop that could serve as an alternative
to other crops still remains. Besides being sold in the
palengke as a vegetable, is there really a market for
malunggay products?
After
entering into malunggay production for more than a year,
SECURA International, one of the leading local companies
involved in the agri-biotech business, expects a bright
future for the malunggay industry. Being in the early
stages of developing the malunggay market, SECURA believes
that the Philippines is on the right track but still has a
long way to go.
Danny
Manayaga, President of SECURA, suggests that for the
country to really take advantage of the market, it should
first ensure that there is enough supply to support it.
“The market is developing, but up to now, we still don’t
know the extent of this market because we have not yet
defined our capacity to produce malunggay,” he said.
Currently, SECURA is involved in processing dehydrated
malunggay leaves to produce tea and as an additive to
other medicinal plants to produce herbal tea. “This is the
only active market that is running for malunggay now,”
Manayaga said.
“We are
involved with contract growers from different towns all
over the country such as Valencia in Negros Oriental,
Masinloc and Botolan in Zambales, Alaminos and Infanta in
Pangasinan, and Bamban in Tarlac, which accounts for 150
hectares of our malunggay supply for our current market
but it is not enough to sustain the demands for other
products such as moringa oil,” he added.
SECURA
needs at least 20,000 hectares to be able to support the
available market for malunggay products such as its leaves
for food fortification and animal feeds, moringa oil from
its seeds for cosmetics and as edible oil, and moringa
seed-cake extracts for water treatment. “The market for
moringa oil is there, but there is simply no supply of
moringa seeds to sustain it,” Manayaga said.
Now that
there is increased awareness on the potential of malunggay
as a high-value agricultural crop, more and more farmers
are encouraged to plant malunggay in their farms. However,
Manayaga remains concerned about the sustainability of the
market. According to him, the government needs to support
this endeavor by providing the proper environment for the
malunggay market.
In order
to support the potential of the malunggay market, Manayaga
suggests that “the government should focus on completing
the supply chain for the moringa market.” Now that there
is widespread interest among farmers to plant malunggay in
their farms, the government needs to support them by
establishing the necessary regulations to ensure the
quality and safety of malunggay products produced locally.
According
to Manayaga, “the government must first initiate clinical
trials to gather scientific evidence of the nutritional
value of our local variety of malunggay. In fact, the
clinical trials should be established first before the
market.”
Another
important task for the government, Manayaga suggests, is
the establishment of standards or regulations in the
planting and processing of malunggay products. “The
presence of regulations or standards like the prohibition
of the use of pesticides on malunggay crops grown locally
would improve the confidence of foreign importers to tap
our malunggay market,” he said.
Manayaga
added that the government should also ensure that only
local varieties would be grown in the country by
restricting the importation and planting of foreign
varieties to maintain the quality and purity of local
variety.
“Our
local malunggay, in fact, yields better products than the
foreign varieties in terms of organolyptic properties,”
Manayaga stressed.
The
government, through the DA and its regulatory agencies,
needs to ensure that foreign importers get local
high-quality products from our native crops. The market is
growing just as fast as the malunggay. However, the
maturity of the malunggay market will still depend on the
approach the Philippines will take in maximizing the
advantages of this sprouting market.
What
remains to be done, still, is the completion of the supply
chain to ensure that malunggay remains as an asset and as
a strategic product for Filipino growers. The potential
for malunggay would then be greater, it would then be
better appreciated, and will no longer be regarded as “the
lowly plant” that grows in backyards. |
