NAIC, CAVITE ― Soon, lakatan farms will no longer be same in this town.
In the farm of Willy Villamarin, for instance, there are 750 well-grown lakatan banana plants despite its sloping terrain. The farm is well-managed; banana plants are applied with organic fertilizer and weeded. Tags hang on individual plants indicating when the blossom was cut and if the bunch is ready for harvest.
Because of these tags, bunches covered with nylon sacks for protection against insects
can still be identified if these are mature or
ready for harvest.
Meanwhile in Alfonso, Cavite, lakatan banana plants in the farm of Jaime Romasanta are vigorous, taller, and have bigger blossom and bunches. Romasanta was also able to make all his banana plants bear fruits on the left portion of the mother plant.
Villamarin’s and Romasanta’s farms never cease to delight their visitors. The most recent tour of their farms in line with the S&T Community-based Technology Field Day on lakatan banana production was no exception.
The activity was also conducted to showcase successful partnerships of the concerned institutions in collaboration with the lakatan banana farmers in Cavite.
The partners led by PCAARRD with the Southern Tagalog Agriculture and Resources Reseach and Development Consortium, Cavite State University (CvSU), Office of the Provincial Governor (OPAG), and Cavite Modern Growers Incorporated (CMGI) joined together for the holding of the activity.
The field day started with an opening program followed by the field tour and a farmers’ forum. During the opening program, PCAARRD was acknowledged for its financial and technical support to the project and for selecting Cavite as the project site.
The project is considered a boost in advancing the food production program in Cavite in lieu of the massive land conversion and industrialization going on in the area.
More than 60 participants from the local government units, CvSU, OPAG, and farmers from the other municipalities of Cavite attended the field day.
Through this S&T community-based technology transfer modality, other farmers in the community are convinced on the social, technical, and economic viability of the project. Specifically, they are encouraged to adopt the use of tissue-cultured planting materials coupled with the other recommended cultural management practices. The project also highlighted that with S&T, the possibility of Cavite farmers attaining the yield and quality of lakatan banana produced in Davao is not farfetched.
Incidentally, the S&T-based community-based farm (S&TCBF) project on lakatan banana production in Cavite is the first STCBF project supported by PCAARRD under the Pinoy S&T Services for Farmers and Entrepreneurs technology transfer modality.