Over 5.9 million (M) disease-free root crop planting materials were distributed to farmers in Region 8. This is part of a project being implemented by the Philippine Root Crop Research and Training Center (PhilRootcrops) at the Visayas State University (VSU), which began as a quick response initiative to assist communities affected by the COVID-19 lockdown.
The project, “Enhanced Distribution, Nursery Establishment, and Product Utilization of Root Crops in Region 8 to Mitigate the Impact of COVID-19,” is funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD).
This initiative is under the Council’s Good Agri-Aqua Livelihood Initiatives Towards National Goals (GALING-PCAARRD) Kontra COVID-19 Program, which aims to help alleviate the situation in COVID-19 affected communities around the country through technology-information sharing, food product distribution, and provision of food production technologies and livelihood opportunities derived from its various R&D projects.
During a pre-terminal review, Project Leader Marlon M. Tambis of PhilRootcrops reported that his team had distributed 4.2M sweetpotato cuttings, 1.7M cassava cuttings, 3,000 ‘ubi’ plantlets, and 1,000 taro planting materials.
Prof. Tambis also shared that the establishment of seven new nurseries—on top of the 11 existing nurseries being maintained by the team— enabled them to support the massive distribution of root crop planting materials.
The project hopes to contribute to food availability and provide additional sustainable income sources to farmer-beneficiaries by increasing access to root crops planting materials in the region.
Recently, the project had conducted trainings on root crop production, management, and utilization that benefited 1,355 farmers.
Because of high demand for root crops, the project team considers implementing another initiative that aims to distribute root crops and develop a value chain in other areas, such as in Regions 7 and 13.
Participants of the Pre-Terminal Review for “Enhanced Distribution, Nursery Establishment and Product Utilization of Root Crops in Region 8 to Mitigate the Impact of COVID-19” (Image Credit: Crops Research Division, PCAARRD).
Crops Research Division (CRD) Director Leilani D. Pelegrina expressed her appreciation to the PhilRootcrops team for its dedication to the project. She was hopeful that their outputs under the GALING-PCAARRD Kontra COVID-19 Program would continue to strengthen and sustain the Council’s efforts in providing sustainable livelihoods among communities.
The pre-terminal review was attended by the PhilRootcrops team, CRD representatives headed by Dir. Pelegrina and Industry Strategic S&T Program (ISP) Manager for Sweetpotato Allan B. Siano, and key staff from the Office of the Executive Director for Administration, Resource Management and Support Services (OED-ARMSS) and Technology Transfer and Promotion Division (TTPD) of DOST-PCAARRD.