CABIAO, Nueva Ecija – A vast 7,000-hectare wide expanse of agricultural lands is being tapped by the local government to house a sweet sorghum plantation that will benefit some 49,000 local farmers and dependents.
Mayor Abundia Garcia said a multi-stock distillery for sweet sorghum capable of producing 100,000 liters of ethanol daily will be set up in the impact zone. Garcia led local officials in harvesting sweet sorghum at a two-hectare portion of the plantation in Barangay Bagong Sikat recently.
Garcia earlier formed a research and study team for commercial-scale production of renewable energy source like ethanol in line with the National Government thrust to tap environmentally friendly source of energy. The municipal government is targeting to mass-produce sweet sorghum in barangays Entablado, Bagong Silang, San Gregorio, San Antonio, Sta. Isabel and San Carlos.
Jose Hipolito, municipal planning and development coordinator said the earliest site of sugar plantation in Luzon similar to Cabuyao, Laguna. Cabiao derived its name from the word “Kabyawan” which means grinding mill that used to extract sugar and juice it into molasses. Several of these mills were located in this town long before the coming of the Spaniards and eventually improved these mills into granite stone mills.
Local folk stopped producing sugar and shifted to rice and corn in protest over the landlords and merchants who were dictating the price. Barangay San Antonio (formerly known as Barangay Pantalan) was once an inland port of the early Malay settlement up north of nearby Pampanga province, delivering sugar produce in the mouth of the Pampanga River in the towns of Minalin and Macabebe which had been the trade route before the advent of the Spaniards.
Over the next two years, this town is expected to emerge as the capital of sweet sorghum production in Central Luzon since there is no more social barrier and sweet sorghum is accepted as a primary crop.