Citronella farmers in Agusan Sur find lucrative business in essential oil
SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur -- 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.
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, repellent candles, body lotions, bath soaps, pesticide and other products.
Gov. Cane said, “The by-product, hydrosol, is already being used by big hotels in Metro Manila as an effective deodorizer in the comfort rooms.”
“With this new distillation plant which can accommodate 300 kilos for every extraction activity,
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,” the governor added.
Cane found keen interest in citronella farming because he believed 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.
Joselito Lanzarote, chairperson 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 lemongrass (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 found out that citronella has a 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 a 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.
The BADAFA members will be sharing the new distillation plant with other farmers as a common service facility.
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 for a sustainable livelihood.
Citronella, also known as lazy man’s crop, requires less harvesting efforts as it entails the cutting of the grass only and leaving the roots intact, observing the same cycle to last up for 10 years. (Chris V. Panganiban, PPIO/PAMRE Agusan del Sur/PIA-Agusan del Sur)
