DAVAO CITY—The seeds from Tarlac’s Ylang-ylang trees are now producing the perfume-quality smell of the essential oil from this flowering tree, and more of this tree will be planted in the other towns to produce enough volume for export.
Last month, the Sarangani provincial government donated three distiller machines to the Tri-People Agroforestry Farmers (TRIPAF), an association of mixed tribal villagers, settlers and Moro residents who have been propagating Ylang-Ylang in Maasim.
Governor Rogelio “Ruel” D. Pacquiao said he hoped this donation would help the Tri-People Agroforestry Farmers Association members and the people of Maasim and the rest of the Sarangani residents.
“Nais natin na mapaunlad ang produksyon ng Ylang-Ylang essential oil lalo na nang malaman natin na bukod sa napakabango nito, ay may ilang eksperto din na nagbigay ng opinyon na nakakatulong din ito bilang pangpakalma o stress reliever [We want to boost production of Ylang-Ylang essential oil, especially after we learned that besides its great scent, some experts now say it can also serve as calming agent or stress reliever],” he said.
His message was delivered by Kareen Amlon Saloria, program director of Pacquiao’s flagship program Ronda Probinsya.
Nabel Hadji Yassin, the DOST regional office representative, said the government agency will assist the association in terms of training.
In a message read by her son Lawrence, former Vice Governor Bridget Chiongbian-Huang thanked the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) “for the support, the technology, and the machine that you have given to this enterprising group. This will [go] a long way in helping the community.”
She said it was always her vision to bring to Sarangani the best variety of Ylang-Ylang that could be exported to Europe and “create a center where everyone will be benefited…and will have a long-lasting impact on the lives of the people.”
It was Huang who brought to Sarangani a kilo of Ylang-Ylang seeds from Anao, Tarlac, back in 2005 to produce seedlings, some of which “now blooms bouquets of flowers along the highway fronting the Capitol compound,” the provincial information office said.
She said Maasim should be “the leader, be the visionary, be the mover, be the example, be the showcase, be the first one to make oil from this flower. But we must have enough trees in Sarangani; therefore, we must plant, plant, and plant.”
TRIPAF President Genoveva dela Torre said they have encouraged their members and the community to continue planting Ylang-Ylang.
A group of rebel returnees, she said, has already expressed intention to help propagate Ylang-Ylang.
The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office and the Sarangani Economic Enterprise Development-Institutional Development Assistance Office (Seed-Idao) helped the association acquire the P500,000 worth of 20-liter capacity machines back in 2018 through funding under DOST’s Community Empowerment Thru Science and Technology Program.
Seed-Idao was attached to the office of then Gov. Steve Chiongbian Solon and has since been adopted under the Social Enterprise Empowerment Development program of Ronda Probinsya.
Joan Bartulaba, RP-Seed program coordinator, said Seed-Idao was originally created to institutionalize people’s organizations (POs) and provide livelihood to POs like TRIPAF, which benefited from their convergence initiative with Penro.
Environment officer Rolando Tuballes said the employment opportunity generated through this project was just an impact of their mandate to rehabilitate denuded areas in the province, after Maasim was identified among the areas to grow Ylang-Ylang as their rehabilitation specie.
The 1,000 seedlings that the Penro had provided to TRIPAF came from the breed of Ylang-Ylang trees fronting the Capitol. Ylang-Ylang trees have since been planted also in Barangays Kabatiol, Dalio, Poblacion, Lumasal, Lumatil, Kablacan and Lebe with a total inventory of 1,998 trees.
Image credits: Wasana Jaigunta | Dreamstime.com
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