Financial Times

The fourth national crop
The government has declared Gliricidia as a national plantation crop – making this widely grown tree the island’s fourth plantation crop after tea, rubber and coconut. This is a momentous decision that has not received the attention it deserves. For long we have had three plantation crops that have sustained the economy. Now we have a fourth – driven by the energy crisis.

Sri Lanka urgently needs to look for alternatives to expensive fossil fuel imports such as petroleum whose price keeps increasing by the day. These unprecedented price hikes are not entirely driven by increasing demand and supply shortages. In fact much of it is because of speculation and it is the traders and multinational oil refiners who are making the most money from the present oil price crisis. These are factors beyond our control and the best way for us to handle this crisis is to reduce energy use, adopt energy conservation practices and cut down wastage, and most important of all, seriously look for alternative, cheaper, and renewable sources of energy to minimize our dependence on costly fossil fuels.

This is why the government’s decision to adopt Gliricidia as a national crop and encourage its cultivation must be commended. It is a good example of enlightened thinking and how decision makers have listened to our scientists.

This was a proposal by the Bio Energy Association of Sri Lanka and the announcement was made by them at a press conference called to discuss an ongoing international conference on issues relating to the sustainable use of biomass energy resources. Speakers at the conference made the telling point that Sri Lanka’s dependence on imported fuel is so high that all the foreign exchange earned from tea, rubber and coconut exports were being used to pay the country’s fuel bill.

Another organisation whose scientists took an early initiative to promote the idea of cultivating Gliricidia is the Coconut Research Institute which has done field trials at its Chilaw plantation. This five-year research project on sustainable supply of fuel wood to meet Sri Lanka’s energy needs started in 1998 and was carried out by several institutions, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich, U.K., Department of Forestry, Coconut Research Institute and the Land Use Policy Planning Division.

Of the several fuel wood species studied, it emerged that Gliricidia was the best owing to high wood yield, high rate of leaf decomposition, tolerance to frequent harvesting, less mortality, easy establishment, easy handling due to appropriate size of branching and its versatility. The plant has multiple uses – as fuel wood, fodder for cattle and as fertilizer. The plant is easy to grow and can be profitable for cultivators.

According to the field trials, at the third year of planting, Gliricidia was able to establish positive cash flow and in the fifth year, Gliricidia inter cultivated in coconut lands generated Rs. 35,400 per year as net profit. Studies showed that inter cultivation of Gliricidia in coconut lands improved the micro climate by increased utilization of sunlight, reduced soil temperature and increased soil moisture and fertility.

Already biomass energy accounts for a significant chunk of the power requirements in certain industries, mainly in brick and tile factories. It also has long been used in the tea industry where wood is in plentiful supply. Tea estates are a good location to use renewable sources of energy as they are blessed with abundant such resources. Upcountry tea estates have numerous streams and waterfalls which could, and are, being used to generate electricity for tea factories with the cess being sold to the national grid.

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