Gliricidia - the new Plantation Crop

by Chandrasiri Nanayakkara

The cabinet recently declared Gliricidia as the fourth plantation crop. The other three (traditional) plantation crops are tea, rubber and coconut. Why they are named as planation crops are because they are being cultivated in large acreage since the colonial era in well managed estates and the produce mainly are targeted to export markets.

At the same time they are known as permanent crops because of their lengthy production cycles exceeding more than fifty years. hence having a plantation crop is a good investment.

Because of high demand, well established marketing systems, permanent and continuous returns and government's promotions such as research and extension services the three crops (tea, rubber and coconut) have spread to growers with highland small holdings in the low country.

The coconut is an exception because it is needed for daily domestic consumption in raw form and hence cultivated in home gardens too.

Gliricidia the new plantation crop is known by various names (Vetamara and ladappa) in different areas and its botanical name is Gliricidia sipium.

The plant was brought to Sri Lanka by British planters as a harmless shade tree for tea cultivation in the low country more than 100 years ago. It does not give any direct consumable or edible produce (seeds, fruits or leaves) or not considered yet as a popular animal feed.

Then why is it upgraded by the cabinet to plantation crop status from a mere supporting plant in agriculture? How, where and when should the farmer cultivate it as a crop? What is the marketable part of the crop? Who purchases the produce? Are there markets, marketing channels and systems functioning at present? Finally is it a profitable crop to grow to earn an income?

It is an unexploited tropical plant that belongs to the leguminous family with a high potential to retain solar energy within it and grow vigorously to produce a large quantity of biomass.

It grows well in areas receiving 1000-2000 mm of rainfall and mainly in the low country. It withstands heavy lopping and has no need of aftercare operations such as fertilizing, weeding, pest and disease control and irrigation to grow. It grows erect, needs little space and thrives under shade also. It has the capacity of fixing atmospheric nitrogen through Rhizobium bacteria that lives in its root nodules in a symbiotic form.

Thus Gliricidia is not a soil exhausting "crop", instead it enriches (thro nitrogen fixation) and looses the soil increasing the water absorption capacity, recycles the soil nutrients, add organic matter to soil, provides shade to other crops and finally creates a pleasant micro-climate.

It is easy to propagate through cutting or seeds. Take fresh mature cutting of 1-2 meters length and plant during the rainy season.

It can grow planting seeds in poly bags in a nursery and raised seedling could establish in the field. Since the seedlings are with a tap root system and grow deep in to the soil, seedlings give more resistance to drought and heavy winds hence more suitable for dry zone fields.

Because of the increasing demand for energy in various forms mainly for electricity and fossil fuel in the modern world and escalating prices of fossil fuels or high cost of exploitation of hydro-power and due environmental damages we have to find an affordable and eco-friendly energy alternatives.

Those should be of local origin, cheap which save foreign exchange and generate employment and income among people in the rural sector. Gliricidia became an important plant and a plantation crop for us because of these qualities.

It is a cheap source of bio-energy as sugarcane in Cuba or timber waste in Malaysia. For us the rising cost of fossil fuel and high cost of generating electricity (hydro, diesel and coal) and environmental concerns have made this a priority.

At present Gliricidia grows along fences. it is a support plant and shade tree for pepper. For tea it provides shade and green manure and for coconut plantations it is a good substitute for artificial fertilizer. For organic vegetable cultivation it is indispensable.

I started cultivating Gliricidia in my coconut land since 1995 because of land improvement and due to agronomic reasons. It gave a lot of direct and indirect benefits surprising me. Some people even laughed at me saying that "He is cultivating Gliricidia instead of coconut". The neglected, infertile and low yielding coconut land bought by me has changed to a very productive and fertile land bought by me has changed to a very productive and fertile land after a few years because of Gliricidia.

Starting with a few sticks collected from the village I planted them along the weak boundary fence eventually making a strong fence preventing theft of fallen nuts.

Then cuttings from the fence were planted along both sides of internal roads (avenue planting). Thirdly I planted the vacant areas and both sides of natural drains and along soil conservation contour bunds. Every 2-3 months I ask my workers to lop the trees and dump them in shallow trenches at the fertilizer circle of coconut palms.

It is easy to cut and load to a cart or 2 wheel tractor or manually bring it to the area it requires.For my papaya cultivations it is a good mulch and a source of green manure which add nutrients and colloidal particles and nutrients to the root base that help conserve moisture and retain any artificial fertilizer added to the crop. For banana also it helped me in the same way as mature sticks were used as props.

At the start of my pepper cultivation it provided the live support for the creeper to grow and also provided the necessary shade. For betel cultivation I got the strong sticks to erect the trellis (pandalama).

My cattle liked the lopping very much and it could be considered as a fodder also. For the home garden in which I cultivated my daily vegetable need Gliricidia was the organic source of nitrogen and also a good mulch.

It is a good wind break for banana and papaya crops I was most impressed to notice that it has changed the environment. Within a short time it turned my dry-and-desert-like land to a more green, moist and shady locality.

When the availability of Gliricidia has increased. I thought of using the excess supply more efficiently before it gets mature. I bought a chopping machine produced by the Jinasena and Company and started to produce compost out of it.

This machine is coupled to a diesel engine and chopped Gliricidia were put under a shady tree in layers and together with cow dung and kitchen ash collected from nearby bakery and a copra kiln. The heap moistened and turned accordingly. In three weeks it has converted to a friable compost heap for my vegetables. It reduced my costs for artificial fertilizer (urea). The nitrogen from compost or green manure is better than artificially supplied form (urea and ammonium sulphate) because it increases the soil's living organisms like earth worms and count of beneficial bacteria.

The soil became more friable and workable. Gliricida contains the following nutrients on dry weight percentages; Nitrogen 2.5-3.5, Phosphorus 0.15-0.20, Potassium 1.7-2.0, Magnesium 0.3-0.5. It contains significant amounts of trace elements like Copper, Zinc, Boron and Manganese.

Thus it is a better substitute for artificial fertilizer for any crop. As a bio energy source when under restricted burning it releases thermal energy to run machines in the industry. The advantage to cultivator is that he could use the tender sticks and foliage for his crops while supplying the mature sticks to industry either to produce electricity or to run industrial machines.

According to a recent newspaper advertisement Haycarb a private sector company at Madampe and Badalgama is purchasing Gliricidia.

The daily demand is over 50 tons at each factory. Their calculations proved that the factory can save one-third of the fuel cost if they use Gliricidia instead of furnace oil. At present the company pays Rs. 2,500/- per ton at the factory gate.

The sticks need to be cut at 3" lengths. The transport and manual cutting is the main problem with the farmers to popularize this scheme. Hence the company should think of a few collecting centers at the periphery so that farmers can deliver their supplies to the closest buying centre.

To cut the sticks into pieces a cutting machine similar to husk (coconut) cutting machine needs to be designed and offered for an affordable price to the farmer. The National Engineering Research and Development Centre (NERD) could intervene in this.

Thus the Gliricidia cultivation gives the farmer and additional income while enriching his land. It could also provide part-time work for the family and one can save some money spent for urea fertilizer. The policy formulation, national planning for the popularization of Gliricidia as a commercial crop will be the responsibility of the Ministry of Plantation Industries.

The implementation and extension at the field level should be done through its institutions like Coconut Cultivation Board (CCB). Special projects like Perennial Crop Development Project and farmer organizations could also participate successfully.

The vast potential to grow Gliricidia is with the highlands of coconut lands. According to 92/93 Agricultural Census the acreage under coconut both in the small holdings and as estate is 1,097,000 acres. If cultivated at least 10% as an intercrop systematically and utilized efficiently this raw material would be a good source to generate electricity and produce thermal energy to run factories.

We all should realize the importance of this new plantation crop and grow in places where it can grow. The country can reduce foreign exchange which is used for urea and fossil fuel and give an additional income to the rural folk. Most important factor for this is the proper marketing systems and a reasonable price.

(The writer is a Member-Coconut Growers' Association.)