Finding The Best Treasure From Energy Plantation Implementation Part 5

"It is He Who has brought down the rain from the sky for you, some of it has become a drink and some of it has grown up, the plants which are in your place of grazing your cattle. "(Qur'an 16:10)

"Eat and graze your animals. Verily in this, there are signs of the power of Allah for those who understand. "(Qur'an, 20:54)

There is a very positive correlation between manure organic fertilizer with crop productivity. When farms are integrated with agriculture and forestry, there will be a closed cycle of fertilizer fulfillment and crop productivity. And vice versa. If fertilizers, especially organic fertilizers, cannot be met, then inorganic fertilizers, namely chemical fertilizers, will replace them. Whereas by making the closed cycle, it will eliminate the need for inorganic fertilizers or chemical fertilizers. In addition to increasing costs, the use of chemical fertilizers also damage or poison agricultural land. Integration of livestock with forestry, as well as with agriculture at present, have generally been damaged and cut off so that the consequence of dependence on chemical fertilizers is high. Agroforestry and animal husbandry, especially sheep grazing, should be developed, so that the business will be optimal, environmentally friendly and sustainable.

In the implementation technically in energy plantation, the sheep can be grazed directly in the plantation, but by observing the age of the energy plantation trees, the practice is made in rotation. When the energy plantation trees are large enough, then the sheep can be released and grazed in the area, but when the energy plantation trees are still small, the sheep cannot be grazed in the area, because it will damage the growth of the trees . The second technique is to make a sheep colony between or in the middle of the energy plantation. In addition to the sheep colony area, there is also a grazing area for sheep. The grazing is also made rotation according to the availability of grass or sheep feed. The portion of grass from grazing can be made with a ratio of 50:50 with forage, energy plantation waste. All breeders also know, especially sheep farmers, that the feed can be said to be the main component of the livestock business costs. So if the feed can be made as cheap as possible, then automatically profit margin is also high. Imagine if sheep feed had to be imported and expensive, even though the land to graze or grow grass was very broad, this would be foolishness. Forage quality in the form of grasses and leaves is the best feed. The protein content of leguminoceae leaves in the energy plantation is also high, thus producing high quality feed and conversion to lamb meat will also be high.

Grass can grow almost anywhere in Indonesia, because it has a tropical climate and fertile soil. We do not need to bother planting these grasses, even in many cases cleaning the grass is a problem. In dry countries like Egypt to get grass, farmers need to plant and care for them. We should be grateful to Allah SWT for these favors. In large-scale energy plantation and sheep farming, irrigation is a very important factor. Allah Almighty created the living from water. The grass will also dry it and die when there is no water, as well as the energy plantation trees - even though these types of trees are very efficient in water use.

Kitab Al Filaha, the Book of Phenomenal Agriculture in the Age of the Umayyad Caliphate in Andalusia Who Becomes European Referral For Centuries.

A good irrigation system must be built in the area and that is not a difficult job. In the Umayyad Caliphate in Andalusia the waterways were built even from distant and mountainous sources, to meet the water needs of the city, including their agriculture and livestock. Rainfall in Andalusia (Spain today) is also low namely 640 mm / year, while Indonesia averages 2700 mm / year but their agriculture and livestock are very advanced, even becoming a European reference for centuries after. Islamic civilization in Andalusia is not only the beauty of the building of its mosque, palace, urban spatial planning, science, but also its economy and prosperity, namely the fulfillment of its food from their agriculture and livestock. History is always repetitive, and we can work on it by studying the Islamic civilization and knowing what factors support it. Whereas in the contemporary era, we can see that the Netherlands with its irrigation network has been able to boost its bioeconomics, both in the food, energy and material sectors. Bioeconomics is based on animals and plants as objects, which Allah created from water: "... And from the water We make all things alive. Why then do they not believe? "(Qur'an 21: 30), so that fulfilling water needs will optimize its growth. There is no life without water. Bioeconomics in Europe aims to drive the economy by € 2 trillion (around 34,000 trillion rupiah or around 17 times the Indonesian state budget) by absorbing 20 million workers.

Sheep Transport Ship With a Capacity of Up to 40,000 Sheep / Shipment

Then how is the lamb meat market? Currently the largest sheep market is Saudi Arabia, with an estimated 8 million head / year or a quarter (2 million head) in the Haj season. While for the domestic market the demand is not large, except for Idhul Adha. How to increase the consumption of lamb? To accelerate the increase in lamb meat, humanitarian agencies can work with the sheep farm. Innovation can be made by the way the lamb meat is cooked and then canned so that long lasting. Ready-to-eat food products that were canned before also have been circulating in the market such as the  gudeg, rendang, green lombok soup and so on, so that it is also possible for processed lamb meat like tongseng, gule and satay. At present if humanitarian agencies donate food to our brothers and sisters victims of conflict areas such as Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan and Rohingnya, then canned meat of sheep should be part of the package. Don't prioritize instant noodles, which are imported raw materials and very few importers (monopoly / oligopoly). In addition, ready-to-eat canned lamb is also marketed at domestic outlets so that the interest in consumption of lamb meat continues to increase, especially among the majority of Muslims in this country.

In addition agroforestry productivity increase with the quality, other industrial sectors that benefit from the development of sheep farming are the leather industry and the textile industry. Sheep slaughtered in Indonesia, the skin and fur will become the raw material for the leather industry and textile industry. Jackets, wallets, and bags are some of the products of the sheep skin-based leather industry. Furthermore, wool yarn which has been mostly imported, can be reduced or even eliminated by massive sheep farms and energy plantations. How beautiful if the Prophet's sunnah can be implemented, especially other plantations such as 12 million hectares of oil palm plantations; coconut 3.7 million hectares; 3.4 million hectares of rubber and so on are very potential for the sheep farm business. When faith in piety is increasingly implemented in everyday life so that bank interest rates can be eliminated or 0%, then wealth becomes a blessing, passion for business and greater competitiveness and innovative concepts for good can be realized immediately. And when the economy is controlled and driven by good people, goodness will be widespread in various parts of the world. Insha Allah.

Biomass Efficiency Improvement for Energy Sufficiency

Talking about oil palm plantations, Indonesia is top of that, coconut plantations, and so on, rubber plantations, too. But speaking of energy self-sufficiency, energy diversification, energy security and the role of bioenergy or biopower, it's still very far to be said as the champion. Energy is clearly an important sector, after food. The late innovation in this sector also has the potential of this country not developing even controlled by foreign parties. The vast amount of biomass has not been utilized efficiently and optimally. ESDM noted that less than 2% of biomass was used. The efficiency improvement alone has actually contributed greatly to energy sufficiency. Today's problems such as the scarcity of 3 kg LPG gas in some locations can also be overcome by increasing the efficiency. Global environmental problems such as climate change and global warming can also be mitigated by biomass because it is a carbon neutral fuel. Whereas when the energy needs are getting bigger, it is necessary to create new energy sources namely by multipurpose energy plantation.

Indonesia's oil palm plantations today cover 12 million hectares and number 1 in the world. Of course the biomass production is very large. There are two groups of biomass sources from the oil palm plantation, namely from the plantation side and the processing plant side. On the plantation side, waste in the form of fronds, trunks and palm leaves has not been utilized and only stacked in the plantatin until decayed. While from the side of the processing plant, namely the palm oil mill or CPO production, biomass waste in the form of palm kernel shells, empty fruit bunches, fibers (mesocarp fiber) and liquid waste. All of these wastes can be used for energy, only fibers from fruit bunch (mesocarp fiber) have been used up as fuel for the operations of the palm plant (electricity generation and steam production. Hard and difficult decomposed biomass can be processed into pellets and briquette, while biomass which is rich in organic matter is processed with biological routes (fermentation) for biogas production.

Pellet or briquette factories can be built adjacent to a plantation or CPO factory or based on raw material oriented. If the plant is built away from raw materials, transportation costs will be expensive because the raw material takes up a large volume (bulky). The capacity of the plant is also adjusted to the availability of raw materials, so that if the plant uses raw materials from oil palm plantation waste such as fronds and trunks. Plantation maintenance by cleaning palm fronds and replanting programs that leave palm oil trunks (read more about oil palm pellets here and here) which is carried out periodically is the source of raw material for the production of pellets. While the pellet plant that uses raw materials from the palm oil mill, the capacity is also automatically adjusted to the palm oil mill. Empty fruit bunches (EFB) are solid wastes produced in the daily operation of palm oil mills that can be used for the production of these pellets. Whereas palm kernel shell (PKS) is also produced as a solid waste of palm oil mills, but because the size and properties are similar to wood pellets, it does not need to be processed into pellets, the only do just cleaned from impurities and used for fuel. This palm kernel shell is also a wood pellet competitor, the majority of which can only be obtained from Indonesia and Malaysia. Europe and North American countries (US and Canada) cannot produce palm kernel shells because there are no oil palm plantations there.

Comparison between palm kernel shell and wood pellet

Last about aspect of the market. Whatever the production, if there is no market or buyer, the same is a lie. The export market is also in dire need of biomass fuel because of the global consensus to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere which is widely described as the culprit (trouble maker) of climate change and global warming. Biomass fuels, especially pellets and palm shells, are categorized as carbon neutral but their management must be sustainable. Each pellet also has its own market, more details can be read here. Domestic markets also need to be built. When a pellet manufacturer can provide these pellets continuously along with cooking stoves and various energy conversion tools, which is also part of educating the market (for current conditions), then the use of pellets gradually increases. Insha Allah. Moreover, the condition of fuel scarcity, especially for households in a number of areas which is worrying, will also be a driving force or motivation for the production of these pellets. And it is not impossible, Indonesia is one of the main players in the world's biomass fuel. Wallahu 'Alam

Bioeconomy Model for Indonesia

When Europe targets their bioeconomy it can move the economic sector of € 2 trillion (34,000 trillion rupiahs or 17 times the Indonesian state budget) by absorbing 20 million workers and more specifically the Netherlands which is about the size of East Java targeting € 2.6-3 billion (around 50 trillion rupiah) with their bioeconomy program, Indonesia as a tropical country, vast and fertile land should be able to boost its economy as well as bioeconomy. The bioeconomy approach and model developed by Indonesia could be different from what is done in Europe and in the Netherlands, because its natural potential and the characteristics of its population are also not the same. With a majority Muslim population Indonesia should develop many bioeconomy models that are in line with Islamic values. This is because bioeconomy will also be related to food and clothing issues which in Islam are very clearly related to halal haram issues. Not only that, of course the model is also optimized so that it can bring as much as possible the prosperity of the people and provide solutions to a number of major problems faced. Islamic economics that has not become mainstream in a majority Islamic country is one of the big problems today. By doing a lot of syirkah and waqf a number of big opportunities in the bioeconomy era can be easily captured and optimized.

With a tropical climate, vast land, fertile and high rainfall, the development of energy plantations for the production of wood pellets, sheep farming, honey bee farming and charcoal production with pyrolysis is one of the bioeconomy models that can be developed. Pyrolysis, besides producing charcoal, also produces syngas which can be converted into electricity. Electricity is useful to run the pyrolysis unit and also the production of wood pellets. Palm oil mill wastes such as oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) and oil palm plantation wastes namely fronds can be used for the pyrolysis raw material. Municipal waste can also be used as raw material for pyrolysis. If not, some or part of the wood from the energy plantation can be used for the raw material of the pyrolysis. Other products from pyrolysis are charcoal, biooil and pyroligneous acid (liquid smoke). All of these products have high economic value and can be upgraded to become a number of derivative products. How long the industry chain also depends on the economics value of the industry. The longer the industrial chain should give greater added value and a large contribution to bioeconomy.

How can to realize the bioeconomy of the model above? Of course it's a big job to realize the bioeconmy model because it integrates several units so that it becomes a closed cycle. Entry points can be started from one business unit that is easier to do. Sheep grazing or sheep and cattle grazing (mixed grazing) can be the easiest entry point, because for Muslims it is also supportive for the establishment of syariat Islam, namely syariat qurban every 10 Dzulhijah. It also means that it will increase domestic meat production. Rotation grazing is an effective and efficient grazing pattern, especially compared to traditional grazing patterns, namely continuous grazing. After the pasture, followed by the production of wood pellets from the energy plantation, the waste of the leaves which is also rich in protein will also be an additional food for the livestock. Livestock manure from the cage can be used for fertilizer in the energy plantation, while the pasture itself has received fertilizer when grazing is carried out in the area. The last is integrating pyrolysis units whose main purpose is for electricity production to meet the operations of the wood pellet factory. Industrial chain can be developed longer by using raw materials (feedstock) from the by-products of the pyrolysis process.

When this model can be made and proven to provide great benefits, then the model is then multiplied and enlarged. When the touch screen hand phone was first introduced, many people were skeptical and ridiculed the concept to be used en masse, but today most cell phones and gadgets use the touch screen to operate it. People are attracted and flock to be follower when they see evidence. But who wants to be a pioneer and give evidence to those people? Only very few people want and are able to do it. Steve Jobs, shows that Apple's touch screen phones can be reliably used and provide evidence for people. Steve Jobs's famous expression is "People don't know what they want until you show it to them!"

Palm Oil Plantation

Examples in the world of plantations will be closer to the bioeconomy model. When the Dutch brought four palm oil seeds and grew into oil palm trees, then small plantations were made, then it became more widespread because many were copied and developed into many places. This condition occurs because the business can prove to provide attractive benefits. Likewise with the development of bioeconomy. Increasingly proven to provide better profit and benefits, it is certainly more attractive to be applied and developed to many locations, not only in Indonesia but also in Malaysia and especially other Muslim countries.