The Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI) of the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) conducted training on charcoal briquette production for the benefit of fisherfolk in Sultan Kudarat province.

Trainees were eight faculty members of the Sultan Kudarat State University (SKSU) and a Sultan Kudarat local government official.

The technologies they learned during the course will be passed on to fishermen in the coastal communities of Sultan Kudarat.

Speakers were Engr. Belen Bisana, Engr. Amando Allan Bondad, Eduardo Gonong and Dr. Emelyne Cortiguerra.

Facilitated by Julian Roxas, the course consisted of lectures, discussion, and applications of the various technologies used by the FPRDI.

These technologies included charcoal and briquetting methods such as using the manual briquettor, drum method, and the carbonizer.

The trainees also went to the Toledo chick brooding farm in Barangay Luksuhin, Silang, Cavite, which utilizes charcoal briquettes.

Charcoal briquettes are powdered charcoal residues mixed with a binder such as cassava starch and made solid through a briquetting machine.

According to the FPRDI, charcoal briquettes burn longer and more steadily because they are denser than ordinary charcoal. It also means that charcoal briquettes are more cost-effective compared to the ordinary charcoal.

Victorino Laviste, one of the trainees, plans to build a charcoal briquetting demonstration plant in Sultan Kudarat, with the financial assistance of Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCMARD) and the technical expertise of FPRDI.