Tissue culture facility to help banana industry in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – A tissue culture facility is expected to be established in Panabo City, Davao del Norte  to help improve the banana industry in the south.

According to the city agriculture office, the banana tissues of the Lakatan and Cavendish varieties  would  be commercially available in the said facility in the last quarter of  this year after having started its operation last month.

The Lakatan and Cavendish banana tissues are  made  ready for  planting  within five to seven months depending on the variety of the banana.

Located near the city nursery at the Agricultural Technology Institute compound,  the construction of the facility costs around P2 million with funding  coming from the Department of Agriculture Region XI and the city government of Panabo.

The tissue culture  facility was reportedly  designed to answer the needs of banana farmers who are looking for plantlets that are resistant to diseases.

Panabo residents would have  priority  to avail of the planting materials.

The facility would  accept  reservations for purchase of planting materials starting in the third quarter this year.                                                                   

Aside from Cavendish and Lakatan, the facility would also release next year planting materials for the Cardaba variety.

To complement  the tissue culture facility, DA-XI intends to  also construct a “net house” besides the facility to house the tissue-culture plantlets.