Agriculture Business Week

Black Crosses on banana leaves are signs that the crop is suffering, from black cross leaf spot, a fungal disease caused by Phyllarchora musicola which usually attacks cooking-type banana like cardaba or saba.

It causes fast deterioration of leaves, and significant reduction of leaves affects photosynthetic efficiency, leading to reduced fruit yield of up to 50 percent or more. It can also induce premature maturation and ripening, resulting in production of poor quality fruits.

For the past five years, occurrence of black cross leaf spot on cardaba bananas was observed in banana farms in Davao del Norte. And now the prevalence of the disease poses a threat to the province’s banana chips industry at a time when the demand for cardaba, the main material for banana chips production, continues to increase. Thus, black cross leaf spot must be controlled before it affects production. But at present, information about it is very limited.

Because of this, Merlina H. Juruena, a researcher from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist in Davao del Norte, conducted a study titled “Black Cross Leaf Spot Caused by Cardaba Banana: Stages of Development and Effects of Weather Factors” to establish baseline information on the nature of the disease and the environmental factors affecting it.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on November 26th, 2008 under Fruits. Tags: Banana, Disease. Comments: None

Abiu is an exotic fruit from Brazil that more and more people are interested in growing today. Although this fruit tree was introduced as early as thee mid-80s, it is only now that it is getting popular as more people get to try the nice taste of the fruit.

Actually, the taste is quite familiar. It tastes somewhat like the common caimito, only some people like it better because it has less latex. The fruit, however, does not look like the caimito. Instead, it somewhat resembles the color and shape of the ripe tiessa. Also, Abiu is a much smaller tree than the caimito. In fact some Abiu trees will bear fruit even if they are just four feet tall or even lower. Abiu will even bear fruit when it is grown in a container.

Here are pointers on growing the fruit tree, based on actual experience and observations under local conditions.

TWO TYPES. There are two types of Abiu in the Philippines. One produces round fruits while another bears fruit with pointed tip. Usually the one with pointed tip produces bigger fruits. Some fruits may weigh 350 grams although most are smaller. On the other hand, the round fruits are generally smaller although some of the round fruits may also weigh 300, grams each. Most fruits, however, usually weigh 150 to 200 grams as per the experience of a fruit nursery in Teresa, Rizal.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on November 26th, 2008 under Fruits. Tags: Abiu. Comments: None

If you are fond of jackfruit but hates taking out its ripe pulp having its gummy latex accumulate on your hands, then you would be pleased to know that through vacuum frying technology you can now have your favorite fruit anytime and in packs without compromising its original flavor and health benefits.

I was astonished when my officemate brought a pack of Baybay Delights’ Vacuum-Fried Jackfruit for us to taste. “It’s crispy and tastes like jackfruit!” I commented. Then I remembered the famous Vinamit Jackfruit Chips, which is a signature product of Vietnam sold in airports and, incidentally, in a small Vietnamese village in Palawan. The taste of Baybay Delights’ is not far from Vinamit but the former is much cheaper.

Vacuum frying technology has the potential to produce healthier snacks with better taste and texture. That’s because the fresh fruit is being fried under vacuum and at low temperature hence, its original color and flavor and nutrition are maintained. It also produces crunchier and crispier products.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on November 24th, 2008 under Fruits. Tags: Jackfruit, Langka. Comments: None

One of the new crops the farmers in Ilocos Norte are producing is dragon fruit or pitaya, the fruit of cacti that are native to Central and South America. These cacti are now also cultivated in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Taiwan.

In the town of Burgos, Ilocos Norte, which is known for its centuries-old lighthouse, there is a 5-hectare (ha) farm where 3 ha are being developed for the production of dragon fruit.

Husband and wife Rodolfo and Edita Dacuycuy own this farm located at the foot of the historic lighthouse. Although they started planting dragon fruit only on November 12, 2006, they have already harvested 120 kg of fruits from their farm and 80 kg from their backyard in Pasuquin, the town before Burgos.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on November 18th, 2008 under Fruits. Tags: Dragon Fruit. Comments: None

The future of this exotic tropical fruit does not seem to be bright. Why is this so?

Lance is an American from Hawaii who is married to a Filipina. The couple is blessed with three two daughters and one son. When his wife was pregnant with their second child, she craved for lanzones but Lance didn’t know what it was so he bought her a lychee. She complained that it was not the kind of fruit she wanted.

Last year, the family finally visited the Philippines. While in the country, Lance saw a vendor selling what he thought was grapes. He bought some and tasted it. It was only later that he knew it was lanzones. His comment: “Very good. Now, I can say why my wife could tell the difference.”

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on November 9th, 2008 under Fruits. Tags: Lanzones. Comments: None

As more and more enthusiasts are getting interested in planting Red Lady Papaya, which is very much in demand as ripe table papaya, there are also some seedling growers who are trying to make a fast buck from this papaya variety. Beware of them because they pass seedlings grown from the seeds of the hybrid plants as F1 or first filial generation seedlings.

Sometime in 2006, we tried planting six Red Lady seedlings which we got from Dr. Ronaldo A. Sumaoang, president and CEO of Novatech Agri-Food Industries, and we are now making some money from the fruits even with this limited number. This made us interested to plant some more, and Dr. Sumaoang provided us additional seedlings, which he obtained from a seedling grower

Planted during the last wet season. the plants are now bearing fruits but definitely, the seeds used by the seedling grower were not F1s. The fruits are a clear proof of the segregating characters of the plants, as they van in size, shape, and density. Some plants bear elongated fruits, while the others have oblong fruits. Unfortunately, too, the fruits are not as close to each as those of the Fl. The plants are also tall.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on November 6th, 2008 under Fruits. Tags: Papaya, Red Lady Papaya, Seeds. Comments: None

The Bagobo-Tagabaw tribe in Barangay Sibulan, Toril District, Davao City has proven that organic farming works and can go large scale with high-end niche market.

Residing near the foot of Mt. Apo, the Philippines’ tallest peak, the tribe grows super sweet organic banana. Hernan Ambe, operations manager of Sibulan Organic Banana Growers Multipurpose Cooperative (SOBAGROMCO), said they are using the Bungulan variety, because it can thrive well under organic environment. The ‘fingers of the fruit grow up to 14 inches in length, longer than the Cavendish variety which is traditionally exported.

Ambe, a Bagobo-Tagabawa native and a barangay councilor, said that the Foundation for Agrarian Reform Cooperatives in Mindanao, Inc. (Farmcoop), a non-government organization established in 1995 to help the government implement the agrarian reform law, was instrumental in engaging his fellow natives to grow organic banana.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on November 4th, 2008 under Fruits. Tags: Banana, Mindanao. Comments: None

There’s a new jackfruit variety that farmers should try to grow and for food entrepreneurs to process to earn big money. It’s EVIARC Sweet, a variety that has a crunchy, thick, and juicy flesh.

It was developed by the Eastern Visayas Integrated Agricultural Research Center (EVIARC) to boost the country’s jackfruit industry, and was already registered at the Bureau of Plant IndustryNational Seed Industry Council (BPINSIC).

The demand for the planting materials of this variety is increasing, and to cope with it, EVIARC has trained government agricultural technicians and private gardeners in jackfruit propagation, and has established scion groves in Provincial Technical Institutes of Agriculture (PTIA) Provincial Research and Extension Centers (PRECs) to produce more planting materials.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on October 24th, 2008 under Fruits. Tags: Jackfruit. Comments: 1

Not every technology from better developed countries works well under Philippine conditions. For instance, the 5 meter x 5 meter distance of planting mangoes that was introduced from Israel was adopted in a hurry by many mango growers, including owners of large plantations. Some new growers are also using this technology.

In our travel around the country, we have seen that indeed the technology is not suitable under local conditions because the canopy of our mango varieties is spreading and the trees grow tall. The branches of many trees are already overlapping after only a few years. Experts say that mutual shading of the branches would render them practically useless as these would not flower and produce fruits.

We can only guess that two things will most likely happen. Mango growers who used this technology will have to prune heavily or probably cut down half of their trees to avoid mutual shading of the branches. This would mean that the grower will lose half of his investment in terms of finances and time.
(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on October 18th, 2008 under Fruits, Technology. Tags: Mango. Comments: None