Philippines: Tripling yields, placing mangoes on world market year-round

For his many contributions that have had unprecedented impact on agriculture, Dr. Ramon C. Barba, now 72, was awarded the 2011 Umali Award by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) last Wednesday in Los Baños. The plant scientist from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) is the first Filipino to receive the award and the third recipient in Southeast Asia. The $10,000-award, given to outstanding Southeast Asian scientists, is named after the late National Scientist Dioscoro L. Umali, a founding Director of SEARCA and former Assistant Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Foremost among Barba’s researches was a breakthrough discovery in 1974 of mango flower induction by potassium nitrate, making it possible for fruits to be available all year round.

The use of potassium nitrate is low-cost and benefits both farmers and consumers: flower production is profuse and fruit production can be programmed according to market demands. "Although Dr. Barba holds a patent for this technology, he has foregone royalties due him so that mango farmers can use it without additional cost," the award observed. "Dr. Barba is known to perceive simple solutions to complex problems and produce results with minimum resources," the citation noted. "His research on induced mango flowering was a private initiative that cost less than P500 to complete." His achievements include banana micropropagation and sugarcane and calamansi tissue culture; all have impact on the agribusiness potentials of these crops in the world market.

Read full article at source: FreshPlaza.com

Philippines - Upgrading of DENR clonal facility in Babatngon, Leyte to produce quality seedlings for NGP

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Nov. 8 (PIA) – The upgrading of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) old clonal nursery in Babatngon, Leyte, some 33 kilometers north of Tacloban City, into a modern macro-somatic facility is expected to enhance the capability to produce high quality planting materials for the National Greening Program.

DENR-Region 8 Executive Director Rogelio T. Trinidad expressed his gratitude to DENR Secretary Ramon J. Paje for providing the P3.8 Million funds for the upgrading of the Regional Tree Propagation Complex and Training Center.

RED Trinidad said the facility is now equipped with two units of macro-somatic clonal facilities, one unit of recovery facility, hardening beds for cloned seedlings and a hedge garden of different indigenous forest tree species. It also has a laboratory and a conference room capable of accommodating up to 150 people as it doubles as a training center.

“With the renovation, the facility is now capable of producing around 80,000 quality planting materials per year,” Trinidad said.

Philippines - DTI, DAR partner for “Plant a Tree Program”

SORSOGON CITY, November 23 (PIA) -- The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) have forged partnership for the massive planting of the pili trees here in support to the National Greening Program (NGP) of the government.

Pili, considered as a high value crop of of Sorsogon has been also identified as one of the natural environmental trees to be planted to ensure adaptation and mitigation to the ill effects of climate change.

DTI Sorsogon through the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council (SMEDC), also coordinated with local officials in the propagation of the said high value crop.

Leah Pagao, provincial director of DTI Sorsogon, said that pili has already gained a niche in trade fairs as Bicol's best commodity champion in sales, truly marketable and an export earner for the region.

Under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Program (CARP), beneficiaries here were also trained and tapped to plant throughout the province with seedlings supplied by the Department of Agriculture.

Read full press release here: PIA

Philippines: How to qualify for government's seed propagation project

by Jerome Carlo R. Paunan

The rice seed propagation project is part of the Department of Agriculture (DA) national rice program which aims to enable farmers produce their requirement of certified seeds every cropping season.

The program, which forms part of the national food staples sufficiency program, empowers organized farmers’ groups and cooperatives, including Irrigators’ Associations (IAs), to produce their own certified or inbred rice seeds out of the registered rice seeds that will be distributed to them for free.

To qualify under the seed propagation project, farmers’groups should commit a seed production area of at least one-half hectare or 5,000 square meters (sq m) for lowland irrigated area, or at least one-fourth hectare or 2,500 sq m for uplands.

Farmer-beneficiaries must also train on the basics of rice seed production, and other related community seed bank (CSB) operational matters.