An entrepreneur who pioneered massive malunggay cultivation for the global natural ingredients industry has suggested that government devote more land for the propagation of malunggay rather than jatropha curcas.

The Arroyo administration has just launched a campaign to propagate the planting of the tree, known locally as tuba-tuba, by pouring in P10 billion.
Jatropha is not edible but its seeds are considered a source of clean fuel that could run diesel engines.

Danilo Manayaga, president of Secura International Corp., said malunggay is better than jatropha because of its food value and its applications in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.

He adds that the seeds of malunggay can be used to make biofuel as well, adding that moringa oil, which is derived from malunggay, is now used for cooking and as fuel in many rural communities.

Moreover, recent studies in India and in the Philippines showed that the fruit of malunggay increases sperm count, which would give hope to males bothered by their failure to sire offspring.

For Mayanaga, malunggay is a better option since planting materials can be immediately produced at less cost to the government.

In fact, he said the government, through the Department of Agriculture-Biotechnology Program Office (DA-BPO), has started to strategically position itself for the production of planting materials as the program to promote farming for natural ingredients, specifically malunggay.

Many farmer cooperatives have agreed to embark on the commercial cultivation of the so-called "miracle tree."

Earlier, DA-BPO Director Alice Ilaga said all parts of the tree can be used for food, pharmaceutical and even cosmetics, prompting her to include malunggay in their priority programs.

Manayaga, a partner of the DA in promoting farming for natural ingredients, said backyard farming of malunggay alone can help increase farmers' incomes and alleviate poverty in the countryside.

Malunggay can also be used as a feedstock, he adds.

He said ordinary farmers, with small capital can start their own business by making powdered malunggay leaves, which can be used as food ingredient for noodles, soups and bread.

Targeting the world's natural ingredients industry is one of the two strategic directions identified by a team of experts that helped crafted the 10-year DA Agri-Fisheries Biotechnology Roadmap, the other being developing the country's traditional agri-fisheries products through modern biotechnology.

Secura, a local biotechnology company that supplies raw materials to the world's natural ingredients industry, is offering contract to grow non-traditional plants and crops, including malunggay.

"Unlike jatropha, which is poisonous, malunggay is edible. Therefore, when you produce oil from moringa seed, you produce edible oil which is not only edible, but safe to both people and environment," Manayaga, a chemical engineer, said.

According to him, the government should invest to conduct research and development of malunggay to determine its agri-business potentials.

Right now, we know malunggay as a vegetable. Not many know that the seeds of a malunggay can be turned into edible oil or biofuel.

He predicted that malunggay oil will be become a sunrise industry in the near future because of with the increasing demand for renewable energy source from plants to compete with coco-methyl ester (CME), the biofuel derived from coconut, or ethanol derived from corn or sugarcane. -Biolife News Service