A squash much heavier than boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.
A 5.89-kilogram papaya fruit.
A carp and milkfish (bangus) that weigh 6.30 kg and 6.27 kg, respectively.
A tiger prawn (sugpo) that is one-tenth of a kilogram in weight.
These were among the outstan-ding winning entries in the “Search for Pinaka-Best Agricultural Har-vests” that stood out in the 2007 Agrilink-Foodlink-Aqualink held recently at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
The Agrilink, participated in this year by hundreds of local and foreign government and private agriculture and fisheries companies and institutions, is the country’s biggest annual agribusiness trade fair.
The Pinaka-Best competition was launched by the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the initiative of Secretary Arthur C. Yap. It was coordinated by the DA Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) headed by Director Nico-medes P. Eleazar.
“The contest aimed to reward farmers, fisherfolk who dedicatedly produce and raise extraordinary agricultural cross and fisheries,” DA said.
Qualified to participate were Filipino small-scale farmers and fisherfolk and Filipino farmers/fisherfolk cooperatives and organizations.
The entry products exemplified exceptional features as to size, weight, qualify, and physical appearance.
The categories for the contest were vegetables (squash, ampala-ya, eggplant, cabbage, and sweet potato or camote), fruits (mango, cardaba, banana, papaya, pineapple and corn) and fisheries (milkfish), carp, tilapia, lapu-lapu or grouper for finfishes; and black tiger prawn freshwater shrimp or ulang for crustacean).
The winning squash weighed 72 kg (158.4 pounds – Pacquiao’s fighting weight is 130 pounds). Easily among the top crowd drawers during the Agrilink, the kalabasa was the entry of the Puentespina Orchids & Tropical Plants, Inc. in Agdao, Davao City.
The other grand winners under the vegetable category were the ampalaya of Anthony Vasquez of Vinzons, Camarines Norte; the eggplant of Martin Hermino of Pajo, Alfonso, Cavite; the cabbage of Honorio Piliin of Pililia, Rizal; and the sweet potato of Sebastian Bergantin of Pili, Camarines Norte.
The winners in the fruit category were the papaya of Loward Metilla of Sto. Tomas, Pangasinan; the mango of Agustin Daño Jr. of Digos City, Davao del Sur; the banana of Jusing Guliem of Tarragona, Davao Oriental; the corn of Hilarion Bongapat Sr. of Pili, Camarines Norte and the pineapple of Honorio Piliin of Pililia, Rizal.
Topnotchers in the fisheries category were the carp of Victor Ortega of Rizal province; the milkfish of Jose Caneng of Pantal District, Dagupan City, Pangasinan; the grouper of Leoncito Pamesa of Mauban, Quezon; the tilapia of Basilio Rarungal of Valencia, Negros Oriental; black tiger shrimp of Gebe Mejares of Negros Oriental; and freshwater shrimp of Gebe Mejares of Negros Oriental; and freshwater shrimp of Floresam Dacuycuy of Cauayan City, Isabela.
Agriculture Secretary Yap presented cash prizes to the winners during the contest’s awarding ceremony.