Message-ID: <199604031258.GAA22387@major.cei.net> Date: Wed, 3 Apr 1996 06:58:09 -0600 From: carol cross <mailto:solync@CEI.NET> Subject: KENAF/AGRORESIDUES BASED RURAL AGROINDUSTRIAL CENTERS (RAICS) To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
RE: ECOAGROFORESTRY(TM) - SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY AND RURAL AGROINDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENTARTICLES based on a request for information on KENAF.
1. USING KENAF AND AGRORESIDUES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -=20 Kenaf (Hibiscus Cannabinus) is a tropical plant related to cotton and okra. The USDA has been investigating kenaf for years for use in the production of nonwood paper. It is already grown in many tropical countries for use in making rope. In fact, about 1,500,000 hectares are grown in small backyard plots for fiber. Now, however, research by USDA reveals kenaf has a high (up to 35%) protein content, with amino acid content equivalent to alfalfa. Since alfalfa does not grow in the tropics, it will be a good crop for producing feed for livestock in tropical countries. To get this protein content, the growth must be cut BEFORE it is 80 days old. After 80 days, the fibers build up in the stem, the leaf to stem ratio changes and the protein level drops.
In addition to being the ideal species for tropical livestock feed, kenaf can be grown for livestock feed in the Northern USA, in Canada, in Europe, in the Southern Cone countries, in New Zealand, indeed anywhere where there is a 60 day growing season.
Information, ideas and methods of EcoAgroForestry will be shared in workshops and seminars on industries based on KENAF mixed with AGRORESIDUES like wheat straw, rice straw, sugar cane bagasse, etc. at the EcoAgroForestry Century conference in Arkansas on September 18-21, 1996 sponsored by the EcoAgroForestry Trade and Development Center (EAFTDC). =20 There is a Call For Papers on any aspect of sustainable agriculture, sustainable forestry, sustainable development, use of AgroResidues, NONWOOD paper, rural industrial development, rural development, technologies for developing rural industries, kenaf growing and utilization, and the development of EcoAgroForestry projects in Caribbean Basin and Andean Group countries.
Most of the rainforests are cut to create low grade, short term pastures (mainly for hamburgers sold in the USA). The Sustainable People Centered Development, Inc. nonprofit organization is planning the Tropical Kenaf Cut and Carry System. This is designed to produce livestock feed for feeding livestock in Latin American countries in order to stop rainforest= destruction.=20
Kenaf can be fed alone as a high quality livestock feed. However, the protein content is so high, it is better mixed with AgroResidues to produce a more balanced feed. Kenaf and AgroResidues can also be combined to make many industrial products. =20
EAFTDC is promoting the concept of Rural AgroIndustrial Centers (RAICs), each containing several modules to produce selected products such as livestock feed, poultry litter, fuel briquettes, building materials such as particleboard, heatboard, nonwood paper, electricity generation, oil absorbents, nonwoven fibers, woven fibers for cloth, organic fertilizer and soil amendment. =20
The KENAF GROWERS NETWORK is a membership organization which has published the first issue of a newsletter called the KENAF GROWERS NOTEBOOK. Send email message with mailing address for a free copy to come by regular mail to Dr. Carol Cross, Director, EAFTDC.
For information on any of the above items, send email to Dr. Cross at mailto:solync@cei.net.
2. The EcoAgroForestry Century Conference will convene its information sharing meeting, trade show and exposition the week of September 18, 19, 20 and 21, 1996 in Dermott, Arkansas in the heart of Arkansas's agricultural and forest production region according to Dr. Carol Cross, Director of the Society of Lyons, Inc., and Coordinator of the EcoAgroForestry Trade and Development Center (EAFTDC), cosponsors of the meeting.
"It's designed to bring together university experts, consultants in sustainable development, sustainable forestry and rural agroindustrial development. A vital role will be played by entrepreneurs from the Caribbean Basin and Andean Pact countries, US farmers and agribusiness and small and medium scale agricultural and agroindustrial equipment suppliers from the US, Asia and Europe. It will focus on ways to create sustainable agricultural and forestry projects and at the same time, as relationships between participants are formed, lead to joint ventures and strategic alliances as well as trading relationships," noted Dr. Cross.
The purpose of the conference and exhibition is to bring together the people resources, the equipment, the products, the services and the technologies needed to meet the demand of creating and supporting the expanding eco-entrepreneurial culture in the USA, Latin America and the Caribbean through the use of appropriate EcoAgroForestry equipment consultancy and expertise from worldwide sources," she added.=20
"If you wish to present a paper on any of the subjects listed, please email for a "Call For Papers" to mailto:solync@cei.net. One of the key highlights of the conference will be a symposium on the production of Non-Wood Paper. Equipment from the USA, Asia and Europe will be exhibited and a workshop will be put on by AgroResidue fed paper mill technical personnel. As an example of Non-Wood paper production, over 1/3 of India's paper requirements are presently being met by paper made from AgroResidues such as sugar cane bagasse, wheat straw, rice straw, soybean waste, cotton stalks, etc. It is clearly a workable technology. =20
Because Asian and European countries have long track records making paper from AgroResidues, these international technologies are being sought for the development of a rural entrepreneurial culture based on available agricultural residues here in Arkansas.=20
It is very vital that we develop this industry in Arkansas as the burning of field residues is no longer acceptable environmentally. Additionally, small scale pulp and paper mills based on Agro-residues would create jobs in rural areas of Arkansas," she continued.
In addition to the Non-Wood Paper Symposium, there will be a full day symposium on kenaf. Kenaf products will be on exhibit and topics of papers presented will vary from growth to product production to marketing kenaf products. A synopsis of kenaf as a fiber source for Non-Wood paper will also be given. Several kenaf investment projects will be discussed.
The key to success in developing kenaf projects is the availability of processing facilities. In order to develop a large scale kenaf industry, a large scale processing plant must be available. A worn out or old unused cotton gin can be retrofitted for about US$1,000,000. A new kenaf processing plant would cost about US$10,000,000. A kenaf pulp plant requiring 16,000 acres of kenaf could be put into place using reconditioned equipment for about US$30,000,000. A small-scale decorticator like the one at the left could be made available for about US$50,000. Kenaf's potential as a driver of economic development will be reached only as we are able to supply the needed hard technologies (equipment) and soft technologies (training and support for the people developing the project)
A comprehensive set of seminars giving step by step guidelines for taking advantage of the Caribbean Basin Initiative and Andean Pact agreement will be run through the four days of the conference.=20 I thought you might be interested in a conference we are having in Arkansas next September, 1996. It is called the EcoAgroForestry Century conference.= =20
For entrepreneurs, farmers, ranchers , agribusiness firms, groups involved in sustainable agriculture, energy and appropriate technologies who have intermediate or advanced English skills can gain English speaking and listening skills at a special 3 week conference EcoAgroForestry Intensive. Those who have special agricultural interests will find this intensive invaluable. It is especially valuable to those contemplating the development of a kenaf or EcoAgroForestry project such as a VBI or a RAIC module. You will learn the vocabulary of this field as you learn more English. Through this intensive you will establish useful contacts with other entrepreneurs or business people from many countries with whom you may want to form joint ventures or consortiums. We are wrapping this three week English Intensive around the conference using EcoAgroForestry (sustainable agriculture, sustainable forestry, and rural agroindustrial development) plus import/export terms. This will involve a one week intensive using Dee Brightman's special ESL books: "How to Understand American Conversational Speech" with explanations for elisions, contractions, length of vowel sounds which is designed for the more advanced American English students and "How to Make Speech Sounds" for recognizing individual sounds and rules for their spellings. In addition to the classroom setting you will be able to meet farmers and interact with them on a real-time basis. while accompanied by conference staff so that you will be able to communicate with them. During the evenings, after these on-site visits, the group will discuss and learn the terms experienced during the day. You will be working with material that you are seeing and experiencing.
The first week of the English Intensive will be spent in introduction to and practicing of the rules for speech production in conversational speech. Then nightly meetings with local farmers will give them a chance to practice English. During the 4 day conference, the participants of the English Intensive will interact freely with local farmers, invited speakers and participants. After the conference, there will be an additional week of follow-up with role playing and scenario practices using the EcoAgroForestry English. A post conference tour of some large farms and their operations is also planned.
This is a unique experience that only a few international English students will ever have. If you have students who may be interested, they can email mailto:solync@cei.net or write to
There will be presentations on naturetourism, fuel briquetting, growing fast growing nitrogen fixing trees, growing pines in the Caribbean Basin for export, producing outdoor cut flowers and a wide variety of topics relating to EcoAgroForestry based environmentally sound, sustainable rural= development. A paper will also be presented on the potential of hand made paper making. Other possible paper raw materials such as reed canary grass and other grasses will be discussed as well.
There are a wide variety of optional activities including post conference tours to local farms, feed processing plants, feed mills, logging operations, poultry farms, etc. An optional post conference tour to Asia to view actual operation of the AgroResidue fed mills in place is in the works if there is enough interest.
There will be a special full day workshop on creating a SOLYNC EcoAgroForestry=99 Village Business Incubator (SEAFVBI). This is a village or village adjunct where the alternative energy resources are developed, where campesinos purchase homes under equity sharing and cooperative building in exchange for mentoring street children by teaching whatever skills they possess such as leather working, wood working, brick making, farming etc. It is a good entrepreneurial venture and also will make an excellent investment for joint venture partners. Small scale Non-Wood Paper production plants are expected to be a part of each SEAFVBI.
For more information on this innovative new profit focused conference based on developing sustainable agribased environmental entrepreneurship, contact Dr. Carol Cross, Director, SOLYNC, Post Office Box 5208, Pine Bluff, AR 71611 USA, call toll free to -800-476-5962 or FAX 501-367-8736. Send email to mailto:solync@cei.net for complete conference package.
3.0 TROPICAL KENAF BASED CUT AND CARRY HIGH-PROTEIN LIVESTOCK FEED CAN ELIMINATE LAND CLEARING FOR SHORT TERM PASTURE IN THE AMAZON AND OTHER TROPICAL AREAS
Pine Bluff, AR. The "Tropical Cut and Carry Livestock Feed Program" was set into place by Sustainable People Centered Development, Inc. with a grant from the Kenaf Growers Network (KGN), a membership organization of kenaf growers worldwide dedicated to kenaf-based rural agroindustrial development, according to Dr. Carol Cross, Director of the Network and initiator of the program.
The Kenaf Growers Network will be devoting one-fourth of Dr. Cross's time for the development of this project. The project will also be placed on the EcoAgroForestry home page on the World Wide Web as part of the agreement.=20
Farmers in areas presently being felled for short term pastures will be assisted in developing the tropical kenaf cut and carry program. Then they will serve as livestock feed producers for others moving into the area. The farmers who are cutting trees will be encouraged to retain the livestock in a reserve and given seeds and production assistance to plant kenaf for their cattle. The program will consist of four components:
1) Each campesino agrees not to cut any more trees. 2) Each campesino agrees to plant kenaf and use if for livestock feed instead of low grade pasture. 3) Each campesino agrees to pen his cattle and feed kenaf in the cut and carry system. 4) Each campesino agrees to replant the deforested area he has cut for the low grade pasture.
The campesino farmer will be compensated for the trees he replants. He will be given tree seeds to plant. He will also receive enough kenaf seeds to plant 1-5 acres of kenaf depending on the size of his cattle herd. In addition, he will be given support through a local Kenaf Growers Network group, a grapho-symbol based illustration of how to grow kenaf, how to harvest, store and feed it to his cattle. =20
Sustainable People Centered Development, Inc. is a not for profit membership organization. Information transfer volunteers are wanted to help prepare materials for use by these campesinos. Volunteers are needed to make cassette tapes, prepare information booklets, and to go to the Amazon on short term consultancies to work directly with the campesino groups. You can support this effort to stop cutting of trees in the Amazon by buying kenaf seed cards and growing kenaf in your own backyard and making handicraft items from kenaf. For more information on how you can become a part of this effort to stop cutting trees in the Amazon, contact Dr. Carol Cross, Director, Sustainable People Centered Development, Inc., P O Box 5208, Pine Bluff, AR 71611 USA. Or call Dr. Cross at 501-367-6127. FAX to 501-367-8736. Email address: mailto:solync@cei.net.
A New Approach to Rural Economic Development
RURAL AGROINDUSTRIAL CENTER - RAIC(TM)
A community-based Rural AgroIndustrial Center (RAIC=99) is a large-scale (low-tech, intermediate-tech or high-tech) integrated rural development project. This is a new approach to drive rural development. Do you need a way to develop industries in the small, rural towns to prevent migration to urban areas? Do you want to make more money by creating manufactured or processed products instead of shipping out raw materials or disposing of them in the rural areas? =20
There is only one *source of wealth* powerful enough to move toward sustainability! That is the difference between the *true cost*, including environmental constraints and EarthHome carrying capacity, and the product's *market value*!
Farming communities tend to be small in population and have a wide dispersal due to large land parcels required for farming. In order to create industries from farmers' production a central processing area is required. Here low value raw materials including agroresidues such as bagasse and cereal straws combined with newly directed crops such as kenaf, Reed canary grass, Crotalaria, and Leucaena can be brought in for processing. In order for this processing area to succeed in meeting the needs of your country, it will need to be centrally located in an agricultural area so that it will be economic to haul materials to it. Indeed, more than one such centrally located processing area will be required to serve all the needs of your country's farmers.
Innovative EcoAgroForestry Technologies, Inc. along with several other groups are seeking to create a RAIC=99 in your country. A RAIC consists of= a consortium of farmers, entrepreneurs, researchers, state and national government agencies, in-country and/ or international investors (see p.4 ). RAICs can be structured so that the developing entity can select or choose the Modules they desire. When you look at them one by one you can select the ones that fit your country's or area's resources and interests. The RAIC=99 will then be in a position to profitably produce agribased products from alternative crops like kenaf, Reed canary grass and Crotalaria, which can easily be grown in the tropics, combined with agricultural wastes such as sugar cane bagasse and rice, wheat and other cereal straws. Products for different modules include livestock feed and pulp and many other agroindustries. The project includes the RAIC=99 and adjacent satellite/ feeder farming projects.
Let us take a look at what kind of SYSTEM we should select to drive economic development. The selection has to have the parameters below. RURAL AGROINDUSTRIAL CENTERS (RAICs) have most if not all of these parameters.
RAICS FIT THE PARAMETERS FOR RURAL AGROINDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. A SUCCESSFUL RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT SHOULD HAVE SOUND PARAMETERS =20 It should be easy to get a project started It should be based on renewable resources It should be based on plant species, and on animal species It should have multiple projects to spread the risk It should be a business that can be developed at many levels and from many entry points It should produce products that have a wide growing marketplace It should produce products that are environmentally friendly It should produce products that are green (sustainable) It should create products that are marketable at more that one level of production such as raw materials, basic processing, secondary processing, high tech processing There should be many end uses There should be ongoing research on production, processing and utilization of the products in universities or consulting firms It should be possible to process end products with either small scale or large scale equipment It should use raw materials such as kenaf, that are acceptable or adaptable to local growing conditions without greenhouses, etc., and/ or it should use agroresidues
Alternative agriculture is a misnomer. Before the age of fossil fuels, agriculture and forestry were the source of the products used for people's need. About 150 years ago, fossil fuels (i.e., coal oil, gas), because of their greater energy potential and ease of storage and transportation, displaced wood and other plant materials as the main source of heat, electricity and industrial raw materials.=20
Furnaces replaced wood stoves, plastic replaced wood and glass, polyesters replaced cotton and wool, synthetic rubber replaced leather, etc. The fossil fuel economy was highly productive, but at a high cost. Smog, oil wastes, landfills, leaking toxins into groundwater, all have led to severe environmental problems which have given rise to the environmental movement. The cost of oil has skyrocketed. The Gulf War has revealed our vulnerability to imports of fossil fuels. We are no longer willing to pay the high cost of a fossil fuel economy for our security, our health or our quality of= life.
That is why alternative agriculture or as Innovative EcoAgroForestry Technologies (IEAFT), Inc., prefers to call it, EcoAgroForestry is going to be the Ecoentrepreneurial focus of the 21st century. EcoAgroForestry includes alternative agriculture and expands it to include sustainable forestry and agroindustrial development. It includes not only the production of food, but fuel/ energy, building materials, clothing, the development of human potential and the regeneration of the EarthHome. The conference, called the EcoAgroForestry Century=99, focuses on sharing methods for= creating new systems for rural community development in your country. It is based on rural industrial development through sustainable use of your country's agricultural and forestry resources.
The fact is, EcoAgroForestry based rural community development can spur local economic development in agricultural areas while reducing the public's growing environmental concerns. EcoAgroForestry products offer safer and more responsible alternatives to nondegradable plastics, fossil fuels, and nonrecyclable materials. And the best part is, these EcoAgroForestry products may not only alleviate depressed economics, and lessen human impact on land and water but also may offer a wide range of profitable opportunities to farmers, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors.
Tropical farming communities tend to be small in population and have a wide dispersal due to large land parcels required for farming. In order to create industries from farmers' production a central processing area is required. Here low value raw materials including AgriResidues as well as directed crops such as kenaf, Sesbania, Crotalaria, and Leucaena can be brought in for processing. In order for this processing area to succeed in meeting the needs of your country, it will need to be centrally located in an agricultural area so that it will be economic to haul materials to it. Indeed, more than one such centrally located processing area will be required to serve all the needs of your country's farmers. A Tropical Rural Agro-Industries Center (RAIC)=99 is a large scale integrated rural= development project designed for these purposes:
Innovative EcoAgroForestry Technologies, Inc. along with several other groups are seeking to create a RAIC=99 in your country, which could be a consortium of farmers, entrepreneurs, researchers, state and national government agencies, in-country and international investors. The RAIC=99= will then be in a position to profitably produce agribased products from alternative crops like kenaf, Sesbania, Leucaena, and Crotalaria combined with agricultural wastes such as bagasse. Integral to the RAIC=99 is the development of a project to produce Kenaf, Sesbania and Crotalaria pulp and paper. Kenaf, Sesbania and Crotalaria are exciting crops that can serve as the raw materials base in many agro-industries and can easily be grown in the tropics. The project includes the RAIC=99 and adjacent satellite/feeder farming projects.
A RAIC (Most modules involve kenaf , agroresidues and forest wastes) CAN HAVE TWO OR MORE OF THESE MODULES:
A kenaf plantation; a kenaf separation plant; ecologically sound field and tree crop production of foodstuffs; ecologically sound food processing; nonwood paper from sugar cane bagasse, agricultural residues blended with kenaf; low tech livestock feed; fuel briquettes from forest and agricultural wastes; building materials from rice straw, wheat straw, kenaf, agricultural & forest wastes; reforestation center reclamation center; sustainable logging and certified forest products; production of organic fertilizers and soil amendments from agricultural wastes and kenaf; the SAMEI Strategy for natural cosmetics/ perfume industry development; canewood products from bamboo, rattan, florals and handicrafts, aquaculture projects, bagged silage system, feed pelletizing plant, kenaf remediation products, kenaf fabrics, and Integrated Farming systems =20 The RAIC=99 satellite farming project offers farmers the opportunity to create a profitable project on a small part of their land. RAICs can be based on small scale, medium scale or high tech equipment. The RAIC will generate employment. In addition each of the farmers can produce his own economic development project as a profit center through the development of 100+ hectare RAIC=99 satellite feeder projects that will include: 50+ hectares of kenaf 10+ hectares market garden 10+ hectares Papaya trees 10+ hectares communal tropical fruit orchard 25+ equity Sharing houses -low income built from local materials- equity sharing no down payment in exchange for each one mentoring one of the street children Communal housing for 100 street children Naturetourism project=20 Community Center with communal cafeteria and day care center Small business and artisan incubator -- with commercial kitchen for food preservation, T-shirt press and equipment, leatherworking equipment, gemstone cutting and jewelry equipment, hand made paper lab, pottery equipment, quilt making equipment, woodworking equipment, photography lab and computer center with desktop publishing and access to the Internet - space and time using machinery and labs can be rented by residents to develop small scale businesses.
The RAIC=99 will create low income equity sharing housing, employment and a new sense of being a part of EcoAgroForestry, the growth industry of the 21st century. =20 IEAFT is presently developing the RAIC=99 as a three way joint venture. The joint venture will be structured between IEAFT, one or more international and/or in-country investor groups, and a landowner in your country. If you are interested in participating in the development of a RAIC=99 in your country, contact: Innovative EcoAgroForestry Technologies, Inc.
INNOVATIVE ECOAGROFORESTRY TECHNOLOGIES, INC. Post Office Box 5208 Pine Bluff, AR 71611 USA PHONE/FAX 501-367-8736 FAX 501-367-8736 =20
Carol Cross, PhD EcoAgroForestry Founder (501) 367-6127 (Ph) =20 2801 Olive, #35A, Suite 113 (501) 367-8736(FAX) =20 Pine Bluff, AR 71611 Email: mailto:solync@cei.net =20 Together we Can Create A Sustainable World Through EcoAgroForestry =20 (Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Forestry and Rural AgroIndustrial=20 Development). Form Consortiums & Develop a EcoAgroForestry Village =20 Business Incubator (VBI) or Rural Agroindustrial Center (RAIC), NOW! = =20 Become an EcoAgroForestry Entrepreneur and Regreen the EarthHome! =20