Agriculture Business Week

One piece of good news is that the banana that looks like a dwarf version of our Saba banana will now be propagated for commercial planting.

Now christened Mama Sita banana, it was introduced from Thailand a few years back through the initiative of the Mama Sita Foundation. The imported plants were planted in a demo farm consisting of several hundred hills in the property of Dr. Benito Vergara who is most active in a research and development project on fruit crops supported by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD).

When we visited the plantation earlier this year, the plants were fruiting very well and the fruits were about ready for harvest. After the fruits were harvested, a panel of tasters evaluated the ripe fruits. The mature ones that were not yet ripe were processed into chips. Now, Dr. Vergara is convinced that Mama Sita banana has a good commercial potential. He says that it could be cooked like Saba, best as fried. It can be eaten raw like a latundan. It is also excellent for making banana chips.

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In the banana producing areas in Mindanao, the growers have a problem with their so-called “rejects” which are either too small or too big for the export market.

One big plantation alone may have 15 tons of rejects every day. There are some businessmen who buy the rejects dirt cheap (P500 per truckload) but they can buy just a small fraction.

One company that is taking advantage of the availability of cheap off-size bananas is Perfect Milling, a feedmill in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, managed by Aerol Conde. Thanks to the off-size bananas, Aerol can produce high quality feeds at a lower price than the competition. He said that his feeds (for swine and poultry) are at least P40 per bag cheaper than the leading brand in the market.

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Ex-NPA chief Bernabe Buscayno of Talaga, Capas, Tarlac and Capas Mayor Reynaldo Catacutan are both producers of organic bananas. The methods of these close friends, however, are very different. Catacutan is into the scientific, while “Kumander Dante ” practices what he calls primitive banana production that he learned from the natives when he was in the boondocks.

Buscayno started venturing in banana production in 2004. But before this, he was producing rice. He had even established a rice farmers’ cooperative after then President Corazon Aquino granted him a reprieve. The co-op unfortunately fell apart because the 2,000 members were affected by the Mt. Pinatuba eruption in 1991.

Buscayno was encouraged by his friend who was working at the Lorenzo Farms in Davao to plant banana instead of rice as the return of investment with banana is more substantial. He was convinced of its potential and so he ordered 4,000 tissue-cultured  seedlings from the Lorenzo Farms. He bought cavendish, lakatan, and latundan varieties at P30 each.

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Smallhold banana growers in Isabela gave more reasons to continue planting banana the natural way now that they have proven that improved farming technology can do wonders for them.

And why not? Their naturally produced bananas have found a sure market. One is Japan, which requires 3,500 boxes of Bongulan banana weekly. A box contains 13 kilograms (kg), so that’s a total of 45,500 kg a week. The bigger market is Korea that buys from them 685,000 kg a week or roughly 52,692 boxes weighing 13 kg per box.

This was learned from Dr. Biley Temanel of Isabela State University (ISU) during the recent General Membership Assembly of the National Research Council of the Philippines. He said that the opening of the export market for Isabela banana growers is the result of the marketing agreement forged with the Center for Organic Farming and Integrated Rural Development or CORDEV which now serves as their marketing outlet.

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The banana plant has always been a source of fiber. Its shoots and leaves are commonly used in producing fiber, but its trunk usually goes to waste as it is difficult to extract fiber from it.

Well not anymore. With the multi-fiber tandem stripper, one could produce per hour about 1,000 kilograms of banana fiber from banana trunk.

Designed and fabricated by Engr. Hospicio Luarca Agustin Jr. of Midsayap, North Cotabato, this machine can also extract fibers from pineapple, ramie, kenaf, and other fibercrop at the same rate. That’s because it is spring-loaded so it can be adjusted according to the softness or hardness of the fiber crop, Agustin said.

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The premiere traditional rope fiber of the world continues to generate jobs and earns millions of dollars for the country. But how can this be sustained?

Abaca (Musa textiles Nee) belongs to the banana family (Musaceae) and is indigenous to the Philippines. Abaca fiber is superior over all other fibers of its class because of its great strength and its resistance to the action of water. Thus, it is the cordage of choice for ropes used in oil dredging or exploration, navies and merchant shipping (PCARRD, 2008).

Due to the importance of abaca industry to the country, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), one of the five sectoral councils under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), has allotted a total of Php142 million research funds for its rehabilitation.

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The banana companies in Mindanao can make additional income from their banana stalks after harvest by processing them into fibers for the manufacture of paper. Normally, banana stalks are left to the elements to rot and be wasted after the fruits are harvested.

Dr. Shirley C. Agrupis and Rolyson B. Simpliciano, a biology professor of MMSU and her student, respectively, have found that the edible Pleurotus mushroom could be used to remove the lignin material from banana stalks and produce fibers for handmade paper making.

This could be considered a breakthrough since the banana industry produces voluminous amount of stalks that are normally considered waste. Moreover, their disposal is an added burden and entails additional operations cost.

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The results of two undergraduate theses at the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) have caught our interest: an assessment of pineapple diseases in Tupi and Polomolok, South Cotabato by Irish B. Ofamia and an evaluation of plant extract formulations against Cercospora musae Zimm, which causes Sigatoka disease in banana by Lenneth P. Davao. Both of them are students of Dr. Naomi G. Tangonan, the lone university professor in USM.

In the study on pineapple, the top three field diseases of this crop are phytopthora heart rot, bacterial heart rot, and fusarium wilt. On the other hand, the postharvest diseases are black rot and fruit core rot.

Results showed almost one-fourth (23.5%) of the pineapple farms surveyed were infected with phytopthora heart rot, while over one-eighth (13.61%) had bacterial heart rot. Fusarium wilt infected only 2.28% of the farms. In the two marketing outlets, more than one-fourth (27%) of the fruits for sale were infected with black rot, while only 5% had fruit core rot.

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Are the older leaves of your banana plants having yellow margins and losing vigor? Do the younger leaves show the same symptoms one after the other until eventually, all the leaves wilt?

If you are you suspecting that these are just symptoms of nutrient deficiency or natural senescence, think again. These might be due to Fusarium wilt, a destructive fungal disease that can damage your banana trees. Yes, Fusarium wilt is back, so banana farmers beware!

Fusarium wilt also known as Panama disease, since it was first discovered there, is one of the most destructive plant diseases. The soilborne fungus, Fusarium oxysporum Schelecht f. sp. cubense (Foc) attacks the vascular system of the bananas and obstructs the uptake of water and soil nutrients. This results in wilting and death of the plants.

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Davao City – Growing bananas for banana chips production has become a more lucrative agribusiness, now that growers have direct access to processors and improved technologies.

This is the result of the training and market linkage assistance provided by USAID’s Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program. GEM has provided technical support, which includes seminars on best farming practices and effective pest and disease management, and has facilitated market linkages between banana farmers and banana chips processors.

The Banana Industry Development Association in Talisayan, Misamis Oriental, for instance, have directly marketed its produce to processing plants. Its chairperson, George Yacapin, said that “[the link] has really improved the standing of the banana growers in the supply chain.” And through this, the member-farmers, of course, have earned bigger profits. Yacapin added that their commitment now is to share what they have learned from GEM’s training to other banana growers.

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We often think that being armed is the rebels only way to realize their noble goals, to give their children a promising future and to solve the problems of the country. Well, it could be true for some, but not for two Ilonggo ex-rebels who found peace, happiness and new hope in farming.

They are Tony and Nita Capirayan. They joined the rebel forces because they used to believe that armed struggle is the way to help the country and improve their lives. And like other parents, they also wish to give their kids a future by sending them to school. They, however, realized that they couldn’t make this happen if they would stay in the rebel army.

So they left the army to develop the two-hectare land of Tony’s family in Barangay Tacuyong Sur, Leon, Iloilo into a farm. Starting out was really difficult for them because they didn’t have money. Tony said they worked for their neighbors to earn a capital and they sometimes even asked cassava, banana and other foods from their neighbors because they didn’t have enough money to buy food.

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How do Filipinos love the native Saba banana?

We love it in many ways. As snack food, we have banana-cue or maruya, banana rolls or turon, or just plain boiled banana. We like to have it as minatamis na saging for dessert and pinasugbo, another local delicacy. Famous recipes like pochero, nilagang baka, and bulalo also have banana as one of its ingredients. In summertime, the in demand halo-halo will never be complete without Saba banana. Saba or Cardaba banana is truly a part of our rich culinary culture.

So if you will ask millions of Filipinos overseas how many of them have missed the taste of Saba banana, most probably, you will have a great number of them.

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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.

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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.

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