Nature’s gift: Phichit farmer taps resin trees for fuel
A farmer in Phichit has come up with a novel way of reducing fuel costs – tapping resin trees.
Monrat Wiwitthanakorn, the owner of a perennial tree plantation in Phichit’s Pho Thale district, said on Tuesday that a 10 to 15-year-old resin tree can produce oil that can be mixed with diesel in a 50:50 ratio and serve as perfectly good fuel.
“I have used this mixed oil in farm machines and found no problem. In fact, some machines also work with 100% oil from resin trees,” he said. “It is truly a gift from nature.”
Monrat said to extract the resin, or Yang Na in Thai, one needs to drill a 10 to 20-centimetre-deep hole at the tree’s base about 30cm from the ground.
Then, a rubber hose is tightly fitted to the hole and attached to a receptor. It takes about two days to collect enough oil, he said, adding that the output varies from tree to tree.
Monrat said he has been urging fellow farmers to plant resin trees on unused land as they are environmentally friendly and produce by-products that can help reduce farming costs.
