SRE PRESIDENT SPEAKS AT LIBERIA WORKSHOP

SRE President Perla Manapol was one of the speakers at the "Renewable Energy for Rural Development in Liberia" workshop held in Monrovia October 29-30, 2007. The workshop was sponsored by USAID, the Liberian Ministry of Land, Mines, and Energy and International Resources Group.

Perla's topic was on the coconut as a source of energy and livelihood, based on SRE's Aklan project. Liberia has more than 200,000 acres planted to coconuts but with very minimal value-adding.

Perla reports: "I could tell that there is a strong need for Liberia to develop its coconut industry, judging from the numerous requests for meetings and discussions following my presentation." Indeed, a Liberian private corporation has already initiated the creation of a new company that will put up the country's first-ever coconut mini-oilmill, patterned after the "Aklan Model." The National Charcoal Union of Liberia (NACUL) has also expressed interest in the production of charcoal from coconut shells as a means to ease the denudation of Liberia's forests.

SRE has formed a partnership with some Liberian NGOs to submit a proposal to international development organizations to help fund a comprehensive assessment of the local coconut industry and to organize small coconut farmers into a cooperative.

One other, noteworthy result of the workshop? Perla reports that she is now known in Liberia as "The Coconut Lady" !

SRE RESUMES WORK ON BIOMASS MULTI-CROP DRYER

SRE's biomass multi-crop dryer will see more action before the end of the year. The dryer, fuelled by waste rice hulls (as well as by other biomass fuels including corn cobs, wood chips, and nutshells), will be used to dry fruits including papayas, pineapples, and mangoes.

The new initiative is a collaboration between SRE, Aklan State University, and the Quimpo Family of Aklan and is designed to meet the need for processing Aklan's abundant supply of fruits, most of which end up as waste due to lack of post-harvest facilities. Indeed, even the excess mangoes of nearby province Guimaras still have to be shipped to Cebu Province where they are then dried and shipped back to Guimaras.

Lyn Fernandez-Wilson of the Quimpo clan is also targetting the huge tourist market in nearby Boracay where, as she puts it, "virtually all of the dried mangoes on sale bear the 'Made in Cebu' label," adding, "We have the fruits, and now we have the technology. It's time to have packaged dried fruit under a 'Made in Aklan' label!"