Sustainable Nipa Lambanog Enterprise Amidst of Environmental and Structural Constraints

Lambanog is liquor. The most popular variety is produced from the distilled coconut sap, while the less popular one comes from the distilled sap of Nypa fruticans Wurmb, or ―sasa lambanog‖ as it is called in Infanta, Quezon, Philippines. This study focuses on the lambanog actors in the mangrove areas, a place not merely spaces for nipa palm trees grow but also spaces that take care of them, steadily allowing them to make lambanog and earn a good livelihood. However, instances occur when lambanog production declines as a result of environmental and structural constraints. How the working group responds to these impediments, and how the Enterprise sustains are the topics of interest in this research. Site visit, participant observation and key informants interview guided by semi-structured questionnaire checklists were conducted to gather the data. Findings revealed that lambanog actors have encountered natural constraints like climate change, flooding, and the nipa palmtrees are getting older. It is also found that government and organization leaders promoted the shift in distillery technology from traditional firewood to a modern rice hull. This shift eliminated the need to cut trees in the upland and lowland forests for use as fuel. Rational to this strategy was in the environmental sense, however, this campaign to shift technology from conventional to modern also brought new problems, what we call ―structural constraints.‖

Keywords: Constraints, Cultural heritage, Lambanog, Technology-sharing, Technology-shifting.