Thanks to R&D breakthroughs, the domestic and international markets of malapapaya, fondly called “chopstick tree,” continue to expand.
Malapapaya (Polysias nodosa) is an indigenous species that grows best in thickets and second-growth forests at low to medium altitudes. It is called malapapaya because it branches like a papaya plant.
It can be found in Benguet, Ifugao, Pangasinan, Zambales, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, Quezon, Sorsogon, Mindoro, Palawan, Leyte, Surigao, and Basilan.
The products made out of its soft, white, and odorless wood are chopstick, toothpick, popsicle and ice cream stick, match stick, tongue depressor, slipper and shos, crate, food box, pencil slat, woodcaring, conventional furniture, toy, venetian blind, and pallet.
In the past, veneer from the wood of malapapaya was mainly used to make plywood, reported Dr. Merilyn Rondolo of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD).
But R&D breakthroughs in recent years, particularly those achieved by the DENR-ERDB currently headed by Director Marcial Amaro Jr. and DOST-Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI under Director Florence Soriano) have unraveled the many uses of malapapaya wood.
For instance, ERDB has developed a seed technology to ensure the possibility of establishing large—and medium-scale plantations of the species.
In the past, tree planters could not grow malapapaya because of lack of a technology on how it could be propagated at a large scale.
The technology, developed by ERDB in partnership with Teraoka Farms and which earned for researchers Maria Dayan and Rosalinda Reaviles a DOST R&D award, significantly increased the germination rate of malapapaya seeds from a mere 30 percent to more than 80 percent.
The breakthrough has enabled the MP Wood Philippines, Inc. (partly owned by Teraoka Farms) to establish a 140-hectare malapapaya plantation in Mangataram, Pangasinan.
MP Wood has also been setting up a tree farm and a toothpick, ice cream stick, and veneer factory in Gumaca, Quezon. It is now exporting about 80 percent of its environment-friendly products to Japan. — Rudy A. Fernandez