New machine revolutionizes starch extraction from Lumbia tree
By Renelle Luzon Escuadro
BUTUAN CITY – A new sago pith extracting device promises to revitalize the traditional starch industry, offering a solution to the laborious process of extracting starch from the Lumbia tree.
“The sago pith extracting device is the answer to the plea of the starch farmers to mechanize the process of extracting starch from the Lumbia tree,” said Engineer Aljon E. Bocobo, project leader and director of Caraga State University’s (CSU) Center of Resource Assessment, Analytics and Emerging Technologies (Create).
“This is the first machine in the country that can efficiently remove starch from the Lumbia tree and will save this long-running livelihood from vanishing,” he added.
The invention addresses the challenges faced by farmers like Sergio Pilo, a resident of Barangay Bobon in Butuan City. Pilo, who learned the traditional starch extraction from his forefathers, spends three to five days completing the process, including pounding the pulp with a wooden bow called “hapos.”
“This work is not ordinary because you really have to exert effort from cutting the Lumbia tree to extracting its starch, which often finishes late in the evening,” Pilo expressed in his local dialect. “Because it is very strenuous, the youth now are no longer interested to learn the work, and we are only a few in the community doing the job, and we are now old.”
Pilo’s predicament motivated CSU, with a financial grant from the Department of Science and Technology-Technology Application and Promotion Institute (DOST-TAPI), to develop the “Sago Pith Extracting Device.”
“Because of the laborious manual process of extracting starch, the Lumbia tree ended as an ‘underutilized’ rich source of starch, despite its abundance in the locality,” Bocobo said.
The device can extract starch from a Lumbia tree in just three to four hours, yielding over 400 kilograms of starch. It is currently undergoing pilot testing with three livelihood associations in Butuan City, Agusan del Sur, and Leyte.
The Lumbia tree, a staple food source dating back to the pre-colonial era, grows up to 30 feet tall. Harvested for its starch-rich trunk at the end of its 15-year life cycle, it thrives in coastal areas and along waterways, particularly in northern Mindanao and the Caraga region.
Starch from the Lumbia tree, known locally as “unaw,” is a key ingredient in Butuan City delicacies including the Tumpi, Kinabol, Dabaw-Dabaw, and Palagsing. The increasing popularity of sago pearls in milk tea and other beverages further drives demand.
“With this high demand, the country needs 1,500 million metric tons of starch annually for food, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, among others, and we primarily get them locally from convenient sources such as cassava, potato, and rice,” Bocobo said. “We also import starch, leaving the substantial starch from the Lumbia tree underutilized.”
“With this invention, the Philippines can have an additional supplement and augmentation of at least a 12 percent increase in the local starch supply and lessen importation,” Bocobo emphasized.
The Sago Pith Extracting Device offers a significant advancement for farmers like Pilo, ensuring the longevity of their livelihood and preserving a traditional industry for future generations. (RLE/PIA-Caraga)
