The sugar palm Arenga Pinnata as a key factor in ecosystem conservation and regeneration

Jonas L echot April 4, 2012

Abstract The destruction of tropical rainforests since the last century has mainly been driven by the food and logging industry. The main reason for the destruction of Southeast Asian primary forests is the expansion of oil palm plantations. The oil palm is being considered the highest yielding oil crop and is the worlds main vegetable oil since 2005. However, the environmental and social impacts caused by extended monocultures have generated global concern. Large scale reforestation of degraded land is needed to mitigate climate change and restore ecosystem services. The Southeast Asian sugar palm A. Pinnata could play a critical role in the rehabilitation of degraded lands, due to its ecological benets and its very high economic value. It grows by nature on landslides and stops erosion with its deep and strong roots. As a multipurpose palm it provides over 60 economically usable products. What sets it apart from other tree crops is its high sugar yield of up to 32.96 kg of sugar per tree per day. If intended for sugar production the male inorescences are tapped. The sap contains 12-16% sugar. The tapping of palm trees has a very long tradition in many parts of South and Southeast Asia and has proved to sustain very high density populations. This is the case for the islands of Roti and Savu in Indonesia, where fresh sap is used as the main energy component in pig forage. Recent technology development also enables the production of sustainable, carbon negative bio-ethanol from sugar palm sap. Energy yields double at least those of palm bio-diesel while preserving biodiversity through mixed forest plantings.

1
1.1

Introduction
Botany

The Sugar Palm Arenga Pinnata belongs to the family of the Arecaceae. The genus Arenga comprises about 21 species. The bole of this palm is solitary and 1

measures from 15-20 m in height and 30-40 cm in diameter. The leaves are 6-12 m long bearing 100 or more irregularly arranged leaets on the rachis. Leaets have a dark green upper surface and a whitish underside, sometimes with a slight ferruginous tinge [Pongsattayapipat and Barfod, 2005]. They are 40-70 cm long and 5 cm wide, their shape resembling a sword (ensiform). The crown constitutes of 10-15 leaves. A thick layer of wax coating gives the leaves a good physical and chemical protection. A. Pinnata has a C4 type photosynthesis and its midday photosynthetic depression period is shorter. The thick cuticula and the ecient stomata with very little water loss, combined with deep and strong roots, make it a very sturdy tree [Smits, 2011a]. The stem is covered by leaf sheaths whose margins are brous with black hairs. Young leaf sheaths are typically covered with soft, moss-like white hairs [Mogea et al., 1991]. A. Pinnata begins to ower at the age of 10-12 years, sometimes even as early as 5-7 years, depending on the biogeographical conditions and genetic variation. Maturity of the tree is indicated by the simultaneous appearance of two short leaves at the top of the stem. The rst inorescence arises from a node near the top meristem, following inorescences will succeed sequentially downwards. A node can only bear one inorescence. The 6-8 inorescences at the top of the stem are usually female, the ones that follow on the lower part are male. Dense clusters of male inorescences measure approximately 1.8 m in length, female inorescences are longer and fruits ripen slowly into glossy, brown, plum sized fruit [Martini et al., 2011a]. After a owering period of 4-6 years, ripe fruits fall down and the tree slowly dies [Mogea et al., 1991].

1.2

Geographical distribution

A. Pinnata is distributed all over Southeast Asia, from India and Sri Lanka in the West to Guam and Papua New Guinea in the East, and from Myanmar in the North to Nusa Tenggara Timur province of Indonesia in the South. It is most commonly found in Indonesia, particularly in the province of North Sulawesi. Most of the time the palms are located close to human settlements [Mogea et al., 1991]. It grows from sea level up to 2000 m a.s.l. as long as the temperature stays above 4 C (tolerance of incidental frost up to 5 C) and there is more than 750 mm of rainfall per year [Smits, 2009a]. A. Pinnata grows by nature on steep slopes and landslides in secondary forests on the border to primary forests [Smits, 2011c]. It also grows in secondary shrub forests which result from traditional slash-and-burn shifting cultivation. It cannot thrive in primary rain forests because it dies after 72 leaves and never reaches the canopy where the tropical hardwoods dominate [Smits, 2011b]. A. Pinnata can grow on almost any type of soil, although heavy clay soils and peat swamps are not very appropriate. Sometimes they even grow in brackish water and on the edge of mangrove forests. It is also found in many gardens in Florida as well as in botanical gardens and greenhouses around the world [Smits, 2012]. 2

1.3

History

The great versatility of A. Pinnata makes it one of the oldest cultivated plants. As a source of sugar it was probably cultivated long before sugar cane. In traditional belief among the Minahassa (indigenous tribe of North Sulawesi) consumption of toddy (alcoholic drink) dates back to the rst human beings, Toar and Luimiuut, on Earth [Mogea et al., 1991]. A report from China indicates that a sugar and bre industry was established in Malaysia in 1416. In 1786, a British settlement was established in Penang and an industry was formed based on seeds brought with cloves and nutmegs from Indonesia [Lawrence Long Ltd, 2007]. The Dutch East India Company planned large scale Arenga Plantations on the island of Singapore but after the loss of Napoleon, the Dutch handed over Singapore to the English who handed back the Dutch colonies [Smits, 2011c]. The Japanese have gured out how to plant sugar Palms in East Kalimantan, but they lost the 2nd World War and the project was abandoned [Smits, 2011a]. The tapping of palms for sugary juice is a very old tradition. Particularly sophisticated cultivation methods have been developed in Southeast Asia. Palm trees have always been appreciated by local communities thanks to their multipurpose uses and ecological benets [Dalibard, 1999].

1.4

Uses

A. Pinnata is arguably the most versatile Multipurpose Tree (MPT) species. This is also reected in the vast number of associated names according to its use. In Indonesia alone, 150 dierent names are associated with it. The most important product from A. Pinnata is the sugar rich palm sap and the concentrated brown sugar made from it. The second most important product is the dark bres from the leaf sheath margins commonly known as ijuk. This table shows a summary of usable parts:

Table 1: Useful Parts of A. Pinnata [Mogea et al., 1991, Smits, 2011c] Root Stem Core Pith of Leafs rachis Fibres from leaf sheaths margin (ijuk ) Tea to cure bladder stones, insect repellent Sago (starch), bres Drinking Cup Ropes, lters, road construction, basement of sport courts, brooms, brushes, roof material Tinder for igniting re Cigarette paper, salads Brooms, baskets, meat skewers Wrapping material, fruit baskets, decoration Salads and cooked vegetables Sap tapped for fresh drink, palm wine (saguer ), tuak (distilled, 30% Vol. alcohol), vinegar and production of palm sugar Pig forage (when treated also suitable for other livestock), childrens toys, food reserve storage Kolang kaling (sweetmeat) Calcium oxalate needles contained are being used as a weapon Source of bee honey

White hairs of young leaf sheaths Young leaves Leaet midrib Mature Leaets Terminal bud (cabbage) Male inorescences

Seeds

Endosperms of unripe fruit Peels of the fruit Flowers

Special attention should be drawn to the outstanding properties of ijuk, proven to be sunlight and salt water resistant. This is why it is appreciated for cordage on ships. There are many other applications where ijuk outperforms synthetic bres [Lawrence Long Ltd, 2007].

2
2.1

Importance of A. Pinnata for local livelihoods

Cultural diversity

A. Pinnata is used by local people almost all over Indonesia. The products which are obtained from the palm dier with ethnic diversity, cultures, religions and agricultural practices. As in muslim belief alcohol consumption is prohibited, muslim communities dont produce saguer or tuak, but rather 4

process the sap into blocks of brown sugar. In christian communities the fermented sugary juice is appreciated as a drink. The majority of the people in East Kalimantan is muslim, thereby the sap is processed into brown sugar. However, sugar is not produced in large quantities since this province generates most of its income through oil, gas and timber. A. Pinnata is rarely propagated and harvesting is mostly done on wild palms. A similar utilization pattern of A. Pinnata is found in North Sumatra where brown sugar is produced as well. Unlike East Kalimantan, most of the people in North Sumatra are Christian. Since alcohol consumption is not prohibited saguer and tuak are produced [Mogea et al., 1991]. In addition to brown sugar, fresh drinks from the sap (lahang ), starch our from the trunk pith (sago ), kolang kaling and ijuk production play a major role in West Java. In Central and East Java, the role of A. Pinnata is replaced by Cocos nucifera and Borassus abellifer. These two palm species are the most numerous ones on earth [Dalibard, 1999]. North Sulawesi is inhabited by a christian majority. In the 19th century ijuk was the main product derived from A. Pinnata, primarily used for seawater resistant ropes. In the past the sugar palm and its sago enabled the guerillas to maintain their activities for longer periods of time. Today saguer is the main product, obtained by tapping the inorescences [Mogea et al., 1991]. In some villages, the dowry is still payable in the form of a number of sugar palms. 6 of these trees are enough to sustain a young family [Smits, 2009a]. A. Pinnata is sometimes planted and seeded in this region, particularly on stony slopes for erosion control, on boundaries and along roads to stabilize them [Mogea et al., 1991]. In Thailand, A. Pinnata only occurs on the peninsula. Sugary juice is tapped from inorescences, but since most people are muslim, the sap is processed into namphueng chok (syrup) or namtaan chok (brown sugar). However, the main product from sugar palms in Thailand are the unripe endosperms, known as loog chid, which are harvested from A. Westerhoutii throughout the country [Pongsattayapipat and Barfod, 2009].

2.2

Domestication and cultivation

Since the economic interest in sugar palm cultivation is not very high in East Kalimantan, palms are generally not propagated at all by humans. The high numbers of sugar palms occurring there mainly result from zoochoric propagation by civet cats (Paradoxurus hemaphroditus and Paradoxurus philipinensis ). Seeds germinate abundantly in civet faeces [Mogea et al., 1991]. In North Sumatra in the area of Batang Toru, the christian Batak tribe is dominant. They make intensive use of the products obtained from A. Pinnata. Income is mainly generated by tapping inorescences for saguer and tuak production and regular removal of ijuk. Kolang kaling from unripe en5

dosperms is harvested seasonally. The level of domestication depends mostly on the density of wild palms in the village-surrounding forests. Where palms are abundant, little eorts for propagation are done. Though, some villages in this area either transplant wild seedlings or, in addition, nurse them from seeds. Those villages who propagate A. Pinnata actively remove ijuk every 3-4 months to stimulate stem growth. Since removing ijuk is not labor intensive this practice could also be done in wild populations to stimulate growth and would be very protable [Mogea and Rahayu, 2005]. In West Java, A. Pinnata is tapped for sugary juice and is sometimes harvested for sago. For this purpose, a test of the starch content in the trunk is done before it is cut down. A metal pipe of about 2 cm in diameter with a sharp angled end is inserted 10-20 cm into the trunk at a height of about 1.5 m above ground. With the sample obtained from the pith, one can estimate the starch yield potential. At harvest, the tree is felled and the trunk split in two halves. The brous pith is extracted and pulverized, then washed and squeezed in owing water and ltered with a cloth lter. After a while a starch cake appears on the ground of the ltrate container. This wet starch cake is then exposed to sunlight to dry for 2-3 days. Superstitious belief in some parts of West Java prohibits active propagation of A. Pinnata seeds. Since harvesting of sago is done on the large trees just before they start to ower, only small ones that are not being harvested have ospring. North Sulawesi has a long tradition in the use of sugar palms, dating back to their cultural origin. A. Pinnata is occurring all over this region. The main product is saguer. Brown sugar is made if the heavy saguer cannot be transported for longer distances and if sucient fuel wood is available. People belonging to the Minahassa tribe sow seeds and sometimes plant seedlings. Sugar palms in this region are by far larger and yield by far more sugary juice than those in other provinces of Indonesia. This is probably the result of selecting high sap yielding trees over a long period of time. Sugar palm trees are being planted by local people on unproductive and erosion prone land, to mark boundaries and stabilize roads [Mogea et al., 1991]. In Thailand, A. Pinnata occurs in the southern provinces only as a cultivated or semi-domesticated plant. It is mainly used for sugar production and sometimes for alcoholic beverages. Unlike it is the case for Indonesia, it is not used for its multipurpose uses. The unripe endosperms of A. Westerhoutii are boiled for about 45 minutes in hot water to remove the calcium oxalate needles in the peels. Then, jelly-like endosperms are extracted with a chisel-like tool. Harvesting practices for loog chid dont display any threat to the reproduction of wild A. Westerhoutii populations since harvesting is done on treks and harvesters can never collect all the fruit from one palm [Pongsattayapipat and Barfod, 2009]. In Cambodia, Borassus abellifer plays an important role as a multipurpose palm in integrated farming systems. It is often planted on the boundaries of rice paddies. Thanks to its extraordinary drought resistance and soil fertility 6

tolerance it can provide a constant income. Since deforestation in Cambodia has signicantly reduced fuelwood availability, the fresh sap is used to feed pigs rather than processed to sugar. The sap provides sucient amounts of carbohydrates which only need to be complemented by protein rich forages [Borin, 1996].

Ecological benets

Since its natural habitat is steep slopes and landslides, A. Pinnata has a regenerative eect on degraded ecosystems. In Indonesia, volcanic activity is omnipresent and bush res frequently break out during the dry season. Everywhere, underground res start to burn and, once the dry earth crust cracks open, oxygen inltrates and res ignite. Sugar Palm forests are eective rewalls. A. Pinnata even survives toxic sulphuric ashes from volcanic eruptions and lightning strokes. The roots have a great tensile strength and go very deep. One root with a diameter of 3 mm can hold 47.5 kg. This helps them gathering nutrients from deep soil layers where other trees cannot reach (Smits, 2009a). Their dense and strong roots lock up loose material in the soil and prevent soil erosion. A. Pinnata even grows on vertical slopes. By planting sugar palms on steep slopes, agricultural land beneath benets from lessened erosion and smoother water regulation. Because of the water ecient C4 photosynthesis and its deep roots, combined with the mulch created by dead leaves on the soil surface, water can be stored in the soil for much longer, resulting in less ooding and less drying-out of springs. A sugar palm forest not only benets local people but also wildlife. Many animals live on the tree itself, especially Cloud rats, Moon rats, various mice species, several bat species roost in it, frogs and lizards live between the leaves, worms and soil insects crawl in the earth retained between old leaves, beetles visit the palm, snakes live in its crown, various bird species nest on it, ants live in symbiosis at the underside of leaves, fruit ies and bees are attracted by its nectar rich owers and wasps build their nests in it [Smits, 2011c]. The area of Batang Toru in North Sumatra is the largest wild Orang Utan (Pongo abelii ) population outside national parks remaining. Many other species of high conservation value, the Tonkean macaque (Macaca tonkeana ), babi rusa (Babyrousa babyrussa ) and palm civets (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus ), live in this region. They all depend on a constant food source which is greatly improved by the presence of A. Pinnata. A further advantage is that its fruit are available all year long. The combination of sugar palms with durian (Durio zibethinus ), rubber (Hevea brasiliensis ) and cocoa (Theobroma cacao ) in agroforestry systems especially helps to conserve Orang Utan habitats [Martini et al., 2011b]. A well designed sugar palm forest not only provides local people and wildlife

with a great diversity of other products like fruits, spices, timber and fuelwood, but it also regulates the climate. In between sugar palms around 60 other useful species like bananas, papaya, coee, nutmeg, timber trees, mango, durian, fodder trees, bamboos, pineapples, vanilla, wild gs etc. grow. Thanks to its multi-layered structure above and underneath ground it can recycle its nutrients very eciently through symbiotic microorganisms and makes optimum use of the soil and sunlight [Smits, 2011b]. The deep roots can store large amounts of organic carbon in the soil, further increasing soil fertility [Smits, 2011a, Schmidt, 2011].

Biofuel production

Due to increasing scarcity of fossil fuel resources and the intention to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions, countries decided to use biofuels. However, there are considerable dierences among the highest producing crops in terms of yield, ecological and social footprint. There are two types of biofuels: biodiesel from oil and bio-ethanol from sugar.

4.1

The West African oil palm Elaeis guineensis

The West African oil palm E. guineensis is cultivated in large plantations mainly in Southeast Asia. Its considered the highest yielding biodiesel crop. The estimated yield per hectare per year amounts to 3,600 litres of biodiesel. Some plantations have achieved 5830 l but some suggest this high yield primarily being linked to the amount of fertilizer used. Palm oil has only recently been used for bio-diesel. The food and cosmetic industry has used palm oil for a longer period of time. Most of the palm oil today comes from Indonesia and Malaysia (45% and 43% of global production) [Sheil et al., 2009]). Oil palms are being planted in monocultures that need up to 1,760 kg of fertilizer per hectare per year, of which most is nitrogen fertilizer made from natural gas. The harvesting of the fruit removes considerable amounts of macro- and micronutrients from the soil, of which particularly micronutrients are hard to replace in an appropriate form. In addition to fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides need to be applied [Masarang Foundation, 2011]. However, some palm oil producers have now started to recycle the waste products from palm oil processing in order to reduce the need for the expensive fertilizers. Legume cover crops in between the palms help minimize weeds and x nitrogen in the soil. The reduced need from Nitrogen fertilizer also reduces N2 O emissions which account for 7.5% of the calculated greenhouse eect. Oil palm plantations are major emitters of isoprene. In a clear environment isoprene creates hydroxyl radicals which in turn react with gases like methane, ozone and nitrogen oxides. However, in a polluted environment near industrial and urbanized lands, isoprene supports the formation of smog. 8

Currently, about 77% of all palm oil is used in foods, the rest is processed into detergents, cosmetics, plastics, industrial and agricultural chemicals and biofuel. Biofuels need to have an inferior carbon footprint to fossil fuels to be accepted. This condition is rarely achieved because of the large amounts of fertilizer input, transportation fuel requirement and carbon debt from land conversion. Since a large part of all plantations succeed deforestation, the payback time for the carbon debt increases a lot. If the original land is primary rainforest it takes 71-93 years for the plantation to compensate for the carbon debt. If a peat swamp forest is converted into a plantation, it takes more than 600 years for compensation [Sheil et al., 2009]. Peat domes planted with oil palms decompose 12 cm every year resulting in CO2 emissions of 220 t per hectare per year until the dome has disappeared. Peat swamp forests sequester up to 100 kg of carbon per hectare per year in the form of peat. These huge carbon accumulations depend on the health of their vegetation [Smits, 2009b]. There is a strong link between oil palm and logging companies. Often, land is cleared in the guise of oil palm plantation but the latter is not established after clearing. The income is generated by the high value timber extracted from the forest. Social issues generated by oil palm development have positive and negative aspects. The high yield provides high incomes. However, farmers are strongly bonded to the international market prices of palm oil for their livelihoods. At the moment, ecient processing mills for the fruit bunches are not available for small scale farmers. This is the reason why the processing units are owned by large companies which can dictate the prices at which they buy fruit bunches from farmers [Sheil et al., 2009]. One of many arguments in the promotion of oil palms is the creation of jobs. Controversially oil palm plantations only create 0.12 jobs/hectare compared to 0.15 jobs/hectare for the collection of rattan and medicinal plants from virgin rainforests. Once plantations are abandoned or mechanized, labour becomes redundant [Smits, 2009a]. Oil palm monocultures are very low in biodiversity, even lower than degraded forest. Species diversity might be high relative to a temperate but not to a tropical ecosystem. Many species of high conservation value cannot live in these plantations, including orangutans (Pongo spp.), the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae ), tapirs (Tapirus spp.) and clouded leopards (Neofelis spp.) [Sheil et al., 2009].

4.2

Bio-ethanol from sugar palm sap

While E. guineensis needs fertile soils, high rainfall and high temperatures, A. Pinnata can thrive in harsher environments. Suitability maps for those two palms on Borneo are almost complementary [Smits, 2009b]. It grows very 9

well on steep slopes and landslides and prevents erosion through its deep and strong roots. 8.5 million hectares of degraded land in Indonesia have been overgrown by the grass Imperata cylindrica which prevents the natural regeneration of forests [Martini et al., 2011a]. These grasslands succeed natural res which increase in frequency with global warming and the drying eect of oil palm plantations on surrounding primary forests [Sheil et al., 2009]. To establish sugar palm forests on Imperata grasslands, the grass needs to be removed and cover crops and shade trees planted. This reforestation can be done in an agricultural system with sugar palms and other crops that create income from the very rst year of planting. In between sugar palms, annual plants and useful shrubs and trees can be planted. Such a planting scheme can provide a permanent harvest for local people while the sugar palms are growing up. Once the roots of A. Pinnata have reached deeper soil layers and locked up loose material they gather nutrients that have been leached out. Palms that grow on steep slopes need less scaolding in order to be tapped, thus reducing tapping costs. The sugar rich sap is obtained from the male inorescences (mayang ) [Martini et al., 2011a]. The tapping can start when the owers of an inorescence start to open up. Then, bracts covering the stalk are removed and the pretreatment can begin. The stalk is beaten with a wooden mallet and shaken on a daily basis for 2-3 weeks [Mogea et al., 1991]. The idea is to break the vascular tissues in the stalk to facilitate sap ow [Masarang Foundation, 2007]. Once the stalk is swollen, the ower cluster is cut o in one rm stroke and sap immediately starts dripping from the apex. The cut has to be executed in one rm stroke in order to ensure a ush cut. A fuzzy cutting surface would reduce the sap ow. The sap is collected in a container, either a hollow bamboo pipe or a jerry can. To avoid external contamination the stalk and container aperture are covered [Mogea et al., 1991]. If the sap is intended for tuak production, the container is inoculated with additional yeasts, if intended for sugar production its sterilized with smoke. The sap contains wild yeasts which cause spontaneous fermentation [Martini et al., 2011a]. For sugar production the sap needs to be processed immediately after collection. However, the usage of particular tree barks delays the instant fermentation process. This preserving technique comes from traditional knowledge. High concentrations of tannins in these barks prevent rapid fermentation. The bark of Vateria acuminata is commonly used for this purpose [Dalibard, 1999]. One of the biggest challenges linked to sugar and bio-ethanol production from sugary juice is the large quantity of biomass that is needed to dampen o the water and distill the ethanol. On average, 200 kJ of heat energy are needed to produce 1 l of ethanol [Martini et al., 2011a]. However, a large part of the energy could be replaced by geothermal steam in Indonesia which is estimated to have a potential of 20,000 MW [Masarang Foundation, 2007]. The rst sap processing factory running on geothermal energy has been set up by the Masarang Foundation in Tomohon, North Sulawesi. Willie Smits, its founder, 10

has now developed a miniature of this factory called the VillageHub R . It uses some of the energy in the juice to process the rest of the juice in order to prevent massive deforestation for rewood. This very portable unit can be brought to any place where sugar palms and tappers are available [Smits, 2011a]. Since sap sugar is the direct product resulting from photosynthesis, the maximum energy is captured from the tree. In the formation of starch or oil and fruit structure, energy is lost in the conversion process. Even better, the tapping of coconut palms results in nut yields at least twice as high as that untapped palms. There is a high sugar yield potential of a wide range of palm trees, including A. Pinnata, Borassus abellifer, Nypa fruticans and Cocos nucifera. These are the major sugar yielding palms occurring in the tropical belt, each one having its specic characteristics [Dalibard, 1999]. Yields of A. Pinnata can be very high. Data collection in North Sumatra and North Sulawesi clearly demonstrate its potential. A very high yield has been achieved in a village in North Sumatra with a density of 50 palms per hectare out of which 12 were being tapped (the others were not yet mature). The yield amounted to 32.5 t of sugar per hectare per year. If converted it would yield almost 21 m3 of ethanol. The highest yielding palms occur in a village in North Sulawesi. The average yield from one palm in its surrounding forests amounts to 12.96 kg of sugar per day [Martini et al., 2011a]. As it is the case with all tappable palms, preparation of the inorescence stalk is a crucial factor prior to yield. Tapping palms is an art and high yields are largely related to the skills of the tapper. Highly sophisticated techniques have been developed in Southeast Asia. After the pretreatment, the stalk begins to swell. The ower cluster is cut o and 1 mm is sliced o the apex twice a day to sustain the sap ow [Dalibard, 1999]. Palms with particularly long inorescence stalks can continually yield sap without interruptions until they die [Martini et al., 2011a]. The comparison between sugar palms and the common biofuel-crops (palm oil, sugar cane, corn, rapeseed) shows considerable dierences. Since they grow very well on steep slopes they do not compete with agricultural land. They actually improve soil fertility because only half the minerals taken up by the palm are exported through the sap. The other half is stored in the leaves, trunk and roots. At maturity, its deep roots can bring up minerals that had leached out into deep soil layers. If dead palms are left to decompose half of the minerals originally taken up - mainly from deep soil layers are added to the ecosystem. The mixed forest planting scheme allows other crops and timber species to grow in between the palms. They not only provide a diversied income for local people but also help increase sugar palm growth by providing essential microorganisms [Martini et al., 2011a]. A multi-layered forest can make better use of the sunlight, stores water more eciently and is less susceptible to re and drought. On top of that it doesnt need any fertilizers. However, modest mineral fertilizer application could speed up initial 11

growth but becomes obsolete once the palm is mature. The palm itself is resistant against pests and diseases which redundantises the needs for pesticides [Smits, 2011a]. Sugar palm tapping is very labour intensive and cannot be mechanized as it is the case for the other biofuel-crops. A hectare of sugar palm provides approximately 2.4 permanent jobs per hectare [Smits, 2011b]. An integrated sap processing unit like the VillageHub R not only processes the sap in an environmentally friendly way, but all the products accumulating from the processing are being reused. The yeast cake can be fed to cattle, CO2 is conducted into a pond to increase algae growth which in turn can be used to feed sh, the distillation yields drinking water and nally, sugar or ethanol is produced for consumption or fuel [Smits, 2011a].

Prospects

The outstanding reparative properties of A. Pinnata and its high economic value could act as a central element in solving major problems associated with poverty, conservation, microclimate regulation and global warming. Huge areas of grasslands of very low value that used to be primary forests could be restored with the help of sugar palm forests. Large numbers of wild sugar palms exist in Indonesia but could not be used because of the instant sap fermentation. The VillageHub R allows remote villages to exploit existing sugar palms and provides many other useful services. Masarang Foundation is now manufacturing the rst VillageHubs R that will be brought to remote Dayak villages in Kalimantan. The sugar palm nursery at Masarang Foundation in Tomohon has been expanded and selected seeds of highly productive sugar palms are now germinating.

References
[Borin, 1996] Khieu Borin (1996) The sugar palm tree as the basis of integrated farming systems in Cambodia. Contribution to Second FAO Electronic Conference on Tropical Feeds. Livestock Feed Resources within Integrated Farming Systems. [Dalibard, 1999] Christophe Dalibard (1999) The Potential of Tapping Palm Trees for Animal Production. Livestock Research for Rural Development, Vol. 11(1) [Lawrence Long Ltd, 2007] view website [Martini et al., 2011a] Endri Martini, James Roshetko, David Walden, Jasper van de Staaij, Arno van den Bos, Carlo Hamelinck (2011) Sugar palm 12

ethanol Analysis of economic feasibility and sustainability. Ecofys and Winrock International, Project number: PEGENL085046 [Martini et al., 2011b] E. Martini, J. M. Roshetko, M.van Noordwijk, A. Rahmanulloh, E. Mulyoutami, L. Joshi, S. Budidarsono (2011) Sugar palm (Arenga pinnata (Wurmb) Merr.) for livelihoods and biodiversity conservation in the orangutan habitat of Batang Toru, North Sumatra, Indonesia: mixed prospects for domestication. In: Agroforestry Systems Online First, 1 November 2011 [Masarang Foundation, 2007] view video [Masarang Foundation, 2011] download here [Mogea et al., 1991] J. P. Mogea, B. Seibert, W. Smits (1991) Multipurpose palms: the sugar palm (Arenga pinnata (Wurmb) Merr.). Agroforestry Systems 13, 111-129 [Mogea and Rahayu, 2005] Johanis P. Mogea and Mulyati Rahayu (2005) Diversity, Conservation and Local Knowledge of Rattans and Sugar Palm in Gunung Halimun National Park, Indonesia. Palms, Vol. 49(1), 25-35

[Pongsattayapipat and Barfod, 2005] Ratchada Pongsattayapipat and Anders Barfod (2005) On the Identities of Thai Sugar Palms. Palms, Vol. 45(1) [Pongsattayapipat and Barfod, 2009] Ratchada Pongsattayapipat and Anders Barfod (2009) Economic botany of Sugar palms (Arenga pinnata Merr. And A. Westerhoutii Gri., Arecaceae) in Thailand. Thai Journal of Botany 1(2), 103-117 [Schmidt, 2011] Hans-Peter Schmidt (2011) Humusaufbau statt Hungersnot, view article [Sheil et al., 2009] Douglas Sheil, Anne Casson, Erik Meijaard, Meine van Noordwijk, Joanne Gaskell, Jacqui Sunderland-Groves, Karah Wertz, Markku Kanninen (2009) The impacts and opportunities of oil palm in Southeast Asia. Centre for International Forestry Research. [Smits, 2009a] view video [Smits, 2009b] view video [Smits, 2011a] view video [Smits, 2011b] view video 13

[Smits, 2011c] download slides [Smits, 2012] Personal communication

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