New camote variety good for making puto

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – There’s a new high-yielding sweetpotato variety.

Named BSU SP2 "Bengueta," it was developed by the Benguet State University-Northern Philippines Root Crop Research and Training Center (BSU-NPRCRTC) in this capital town.

The new variety was approved for commercialization late last year by the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC), Dr. Leoncia L. Tandang, immediate past director of the BSU-based Highland Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (HARRDEC), told this writer here.

Specifically, Dr. Tandang said, SP2 "Bengueta" has been given NSIC’s nod for commercial production in upland or high elevation only.

NPRCRTC-BSU also reported that "Bengueta" is good for processing "puto" (traditionally made of rice flour), candies, and chips, and for table use.

Its parent is a naturally occurring variety collected in Sagubo, Kapangan, Benguet.

The new variety can yield 18.86 tons per hectare during the dry season and 12.88 t/ha during the wet season. Average sweetpotato production in the country is 5 t/ha.

"Bengueta" matures in 120-150 days. Its stem and mature leaf are green and its immature leaf is purple. Its skin is pink-red and its flesh is yellow. Its root is elliptic to round.

The variety has high dry matter content – 37 percent when raised during the dry season and 31 percent during the wet season. It has a sugar content of 2.95 percent and starch content of 14.19 percent.

"Bengueta" is moderately resistant to weevil and leaf/stem scab.

4 Mango Packinghouses Set Up In Mindanao

Four packinghouse facilities have been set up in as many regions in Mindanao to enhance the development of the mango industry in southern Philippines.

The facilities were put in place late last year under a project titled "Supporting the Establishment and Maintenance of Technology-based Field Packinghouse for Quality Carabao Mangoes in Mindanao."

The project’s progress was assessed at a conference held last Jan. 14 at the DOST-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) in Los Baños, Laguna.

The R&D project was initiated by PCARRD to showcase the importance of packinghouse as common service facility to ensure the supply of quality mango fruits. Its funding agency is the DOST-Technology Application and Promotion Institute (TAPI).

The UPLB Postharvest Horticulture Training and Research Center (PHTRC), the implementing agency, provided technical assistance in setting up the facilities, monitoring operations, and training personnel of the cooperatives and traders in fruit grading, packing and transporting of mangoes.

The packinghouses have been set up in Zamboanga City (Region 9); Cagayan de Oro City (Region 10); Bahak Island Garden, City of Samal (Davao), Region 11; and Midsayap, Cotabato, Region 12.

The project cooperators are the Zamboanga City Mango Growers Multi-Purpose Cooperative headed by Nonito Bernardo, Jaime Nacua of Region 10, Samal Island Mango Producers Multi-Purpose Cooperative headed by Pete Durano, and Cotabato Global High Fruit Producers Association led by Faustino Sonico.

Memoranda of agreement for the packinghouses’ operation had earlier been signed among PCARRD Executive Director Patricio S. Faylon, DOST-9 Director Brenda Nazareth, DOST-10 Director Constancio Cañete, DOST-11 Director Madel Morados, and DOST-12 Director Zenaida Hadji Raof-Laiden and the project cooperators.

The mango growers shouldered the cost of setting up the packinghouses with financial assistance (loans) from DOST-TAPI.

The target users are mango growers, producers, and cooperatives and associations that supply mango to the domestic and export markets and mango product traders and exporters of fresh and processed mango products.

And Now, ‘DENR Charcoal’

Ever heard of "DENR charcoal"?

It is a solid fuel produced using leaves, twigs, stems and other cellulosic (plant) forest wastes. These are compacted into briquettes.

When burned, the DENR charcoal emits a steady heat with low clean flame. It is easy to ignite and burns completely in at least 50 minutes.

The technology was developed by a research team of the Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI) led by Engr. Belen Bisana. FPRDI, headed by Director Florence Soriano, is an agency under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) based in the UP Los Baños College of Forestry and Natural Resources (UPLB-CFNR) campus.

The DENR charcoal technology was subsequently innovated on by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources –Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (DENR-ERDB), also based in the UPLB-CFNR campus.

ERDB, headed by Director Celso Diaz, has produced under laboratory condition charcoal briquettes from various species and has piloted the technology in community-based forest management (CBFM) areas in the country. The ERDB team is composed of Engr. Santiago Baconguis, Alexander Malabanan, Dominador Pangga, Jesus Posadas, and Zoilo Alvarez.

Training activities have been conducted in various regions as part of DENR’s thrust in bringing the technology to the uplands as one of their livelihood projects.

DENR charcoal briquettes made from several wood species and species combinations have been tested with regard to their heating value. At present, about 30 species of wood and nonwood biomass can be used as raw materials.

ERDB averred that the use of charcoal briquettes can reduce wood charcoal consumption of poultry farms, households, and domestic enterprises.

"Shifting to DENR charcoal not only puts forests wastes into good use but also helps mitigate carbon dioxide emission in the atmosphere and lessens the depletion of the country’s forest resources," it concluded. – Rudy A. Fernandez