How ironic that a Filipino agricultural scientist, whose inventions have benefited countries like China, Malaysia and Australia, is unheralded in his own country.
Eliseo L. Ruiz, who holds a PhD in agriculture management from the US, was a TOYM (Ten Outstanding Young Man) awardee in agriculture and food technology in 1982, but his talents are not being exploited to the fullest by the government.
I met Ruiz only recently through mutual friends, but after talking to him for a few hours I am fully convinced that he can make our country self-sufficient in food and agriculture if only our government would adopt his method.
Ruiz invented a kind of organic fertilizer that is now being used extensively in China, Malaysia and Australia.
His organic fertilizer, Ruiz claims, makes use of human waste and garbage to boost a quantum leap in food harvests.
He calls the Smoky Mountain and Payatas garbage dumps, and the murky Pasig River, “sources of black gold.” He might yet also solve our garbage disposal problem.
Ruiz holds a doctorate in food engineering from the University of Missouri and a masters of science in agricultural engineering (major in crop processing and minor in pollution control) also from the same university.
He advocates the massive planting of castor plant whose fruit, castor beans, are used as raw materials in more than 700 products, among them aviation fuel, biofuel, medicines and cosmetics.
The castor plant, he claims, can bear fruits after several months using his organic fertilizer.
It can grow on any soil, especially in denuded areas.
I have set an appointment for Dr. Eliseo Ruiz with Mayor Edward Hagedorn of Puerto Princesa City in Palawan province where there are vast tracts of land owned by the city government.
Hagedorn expressed an interest in making Puerto Princesa a laboratory for castor plant.
Ruiz said castor plants grow prolific in sandy or stony soil, especially in a tropical climate like ours.
He assured farmers who would plant castor plant of a ready market—himself.
His No. 1 buyer is China, he said.
Ruiz is a prolific inventor.
Apart from his organic fertilizer, Ruiz invented numerous food preparations like the nutribun, which was distributed to undernourished schoolchildren during the Marcos years.
President Noy would do well to invite Ruiz to Malacañang for a one-on-one conversation to pick on the latter’s brains.
If his impeccable credentials are to be the basis, Ruiz could help propel this country to first world status through advances in food technology.