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[av_heading heading=’ URBAN FARMER ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY JULIO P. YAP JR.
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Monday, December 11, 2017
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SELECTED agricultural commodities were highlighted during a series of techno-forums which were conducted during the recent Highland Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development Consortium or HAARRDEC.
These commodities were featured during the recent celebration of the Farms and Industry Encounters through the Science and Technology Agenda (FIESTA).
FIESTA, a technology diffusion strategy, is conceptualized by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD).
The HAARRDEC FIESTA was held in connection with the 117th Adivay Festival and Benguet Founding Anniversary.
Among the highlighted commodities was strawberry.
During the forum, Milagros Dumaslan of the Benguet State University (BSU) shared the effective use of tissue culture technology in the production of strawberry.
According to Dumaslan, the tissue culture technology can increase strawberry production by 98 to 105 percent, compared with the conventional method of strawberry farming, which is common in the highlands.
Funded by the Commission on Higher Education, and started in 2006, the project was the first to introduce tissue culture technology to the farmers in the area.
However, they were initially skeptical to adopt the technology but later on realized that it was beneficial as it could help increase their harvest.
Unlike the conventional method, which can produce only 15 to 35 runners, tissue culture technology can increase it to as much as 100 to 250 runners.
This would mean that more fruits can be harvested in the long run.
With tissue culture, planting materials are also made readily available.
These can be bought bare rooted at about P5 per piece or plant potted at P15 per pot.
Tissue culture materials or plantlets are also available for about P150 per bottle.
With this development, farmers are taught to acclimatize the tissue cultured plantlets and sell the fully developed plantlets for P50 per mother plant with 3 to 5 runners.
The plantlets can later on be used for runner production.
According to Dumaslan, elevation and temperature are two important factors for the successful growth of strawberries.
A maximum of 25 degrees Celsius is ideal.
Strawberries, which are grown in areas with warmer temperature, are smaller and pale compared with those grown in the highlands.
But aside from strawberry, the event also promoted other selected agricultural commodities like coffee, potato, and sweet potato.
Considering its economic potential, potato has been mentioned as one of the important high-value vegetable crops in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), particularly in the provinces of Benguet and Mountain Province.
In fact, Cordillera was the top producing region in the country with a recorded harvest of about 99,981 metric tons in 2016.
It was learned that the top potato producer in the CAR is Benguet with at least 88,771 metric tons or 88.8 percent of the total potato production in the region.
This is followed by Mountain Province with 11,090 metric tons or 11.1 percent.
But the province of Ifugao, which is also under CAR, only shared 0.1-percent of the total production in the region. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com)/PN
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