DA-10 drums up promotion of onion cultivation in NorMin

 

MALAYBALAY CITY, BUKIDNON – In line with its goal to scale up local production of onions in Northern Mindanao, the Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office 10 (DA-10) concluded its Allium Derby in a Harvest Festival and Farmers Forum today, December 20, at the Northern Mindanao Agricultural Crops and Livestock Research Center (NMACLRC), this city.

Kersten S. Pagalan, High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) focal person, shared that the event aims to showcase the potential of onion for massive production in the region by pinpointing well-suited variety for local cultivation.

The derby was participated by four (4) private seed companies who planted their respective red and white onion varieties within a 700 square meter demonstration farm. They were then judged based on yield and quality of onions produced.

Allium derby results are as follow:

Red Onion Category
1st Ramgo International Corp. (Red Dragon)
2nd Pilipinas Kaneko Seeds Corp. (Red Moon)
3rd Allied Botanical Corp. (Onion 88)

White Onion Category
1st Ramgo International Corp. (Yellow Superex)
2nd Allied Botanical Corp. (White Onion Vidalia)
2nd East West Seed Company (Golden Pinoy)

The derby was staged in collaboration with Harbest Agribusiness Corp., for the establishment of a low tunnel greenhouse and with private chemical companies such as FMC Agro Philippines, Inc. and AVC Chemical Corp.

Meanwhile, around 100 farmers were invited to learn firsthand information regarding onion production technology for possible adoption and replication in their locality.

“As a farmer-practitioner, I applied what I learned from the previous allium derby in my own farm and was able to harvest what I planted,” shared Square Honorio S. Cervantes, owner of Square Foot Gardening Learning Site in Cagayan de Oro City.

He further encouraged other farmers to plant onions to help boost the local production to be at par with Luzon in terms of onion production.

The said festival marks the first batch of harvest from three DA-10’s research stations. # (AMBM)