Thursday, January 25, 2007 Foreign firm to put up distillery plant in Rosales
ROSALES -- Rusni Distilleries Ltd., a company based in India engaged in the production of bio-ethanol using sweet sorghum, will erect its first distillery in the Philippines in this town.
Recently, firm owner Palani Swamy and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) Director General William Dar visited and conducted site inspection in Rosales.
With them were KB Savena, sorghum expert Bellum Reddy, Australian Ron Valentine, and Santiago Obien of the Department of Agriculture (DA) Bureau of Agricultural Research.
Mayor Ricardo Revita toured the group at sweet sorghum trial farms and at possible sites for the distillery plant in Barangay Calanutan.
Sweet sorghum is a water-efficient crop grown in the semi-arid tropics. It can serve as an excellent source for ethanol while still meeting the food, feed, and fodder needs of the small farmers.
Dar, a former agriculture secretary, said unlike sugarcane, sweet sorghum requires less water. The crop can be harvested in 31/2 months, thus it will enable farmers to have three croppings in a year.
Swamy said they chose Rosales where they could put up their plant because of its excellent location and vast lands that can be planted with sweet sorghum, not to mention the interest shown by the Municipal Government in the project.
"We have succeeded in using sweet sorghum as feedstock in the distillery of Rusni. Mr. Swamy invested US$9 million of his money to put up the first distillery in the world using sweet sorghum as feedstock. This is the technology we are introducing in the Philippines and in Rosales, Pangasinan is one ideal site that we can promote with the private investors," Dar said.
Rusni Distillery will not only construct its plant here, but will also provide the farmers with technology and know-how on sweet sorghum planting.
Dar said the distillery plant will create jobs that will cater not only to Rosales residents but also its neighboring towns. He assured that the foreign venture in this town will greatly benefit the farmers.
Meanwhile, the Pangasinan State University (PSU) has allotted an area for sweet sorghum propagation.
Dar assured that the plant will not create or produce pollution. "The Rusni Distillery in India, the one being incubated by Icrisat, does not create pollution. We don't use much water but we create water in the process," he said.
"Sweet sorghum is a sulfur-free crop. There will be less sulfur or no sulfur coming from ethanol produced from sweet sorghum," he added. (LCMY/Sunnex)
