Anao ylang-ylang growers smell better times

By Rizalina K. Araral
MediaCore, FPRDI

If there is a contest for the sweetest smelling municipality, the town of Anao in Tarlac could bring home the trophy, thanks to the 10,000 ylang ylang (Cananga odorata) trees planted in its 2,500-hectare land.

And to help make sure that the trees exude sweetness not just to the air, but also to the livelihood of the townspeople, the Department of Science and Technology's Forest Products Research and Development Institute designed an oil extractor to do the job.

Anao transformed into an ylang ylang territory in 1989 when the local government started to establish ylang ylang plantations to supplement the people's income from rice and corn.

 In no time, the people planted seedlings in their backyards and helped take care of government initiated public orchards.  The first harvest of mature blooms came five years later and sold to the Anao Ylang ylang Primary (now Multi-purpose) Cooperative, which operated an oil extraction plant.

The prized oil in turn was sold to Bioessence, a major beauty products and spa company that to this day remains the coop's primary buyer.

AYMPC president Rogelio Felipe said “Our trees produce a total of  2,400 kilos of flowers a year which yields 27 liters of oil which we sell for P 10,000 per liter.”

Ylang ylang is one of the most valued of the aromatic oils because of its delicate fragrance and therapeutic properties.  It produces what has been called “the world's most relaxing essence”.  Ylang ylang grows in Madagascar, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Reunion Islands.

“We are aware of our advantage,” Felipe says, “that's why we have plans to expand our plantations.  We want to be able to penetrate the big European market.”

While waiting for the expansion plans to push through, Felipe and his group make sure that the townspeople get the most out of the enterprise.  “The families here are thankful for the extra income they get from selling flowers at P50 a kilo.  Not only the adults are involved.  Many of our young people help their parents harvest the flowers when they are not in school”, he said

Felipe's plan is buoyed by the 100-kg capacity steam distillation machine that FPRDI designed for them.

“This is an improvement on our old oil extractor.  IIt uses less wood fuel and requires only one operator instead of the usual three, because it comes with a cantilever beam lifter that makes it is easier and safer to load and unload the flowers in the trays and into the machine.”

“The FPRDI unit also consumes less water and yields more oil than the old one. With the improvement, there is an over-all increase in net profit of about P1,300 per batch of flowers processed”, FPRDI Engr. Belen B. Bisana said

Oil quality of Felipe's group passed the Plant Resources of Southeast Asia (PROSEA) standard, an international research and documentation program. “These features make the unit more efficient than the steam distillators currently being used by the local industry”, Bisana added.

Other government groups that provided support include the Tarlac College of Agriculture with technical advice on tree production and assistance in preparation of feasibility studies.  TCA along with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region III committed to share some of its idle land to the cooperative.

“More land for our plantations means we can produce more oil to meet the huge volume required by the export market,” says Felipe.

A visiting German businessman recently brought home oil samples for quality testing. “He plans to buy from us and wants to see if we pass ISO standards,” Felipe disclosed.

With these developments, it looks like more perfumed days are up ahead for the hardworking people of Anao, and for people in other towns that may want to follow their example.

[For more details about the FPRDI steam distillation unit for essential oil, please contact us: FPRDI-DOST, UP College Forestry and Natural Resources Campus, College, Laguna 4031; phone: 049 5362377, 2360, 2586; fax: 049 5363630; email: fprdi@laguna.net]