Saturday, September 22, 2007 Southern Mindanao to have own tissue culture lab
THE regional director of the Fiber Industry Development Authority (Fida) said the industry, with the help of the regional office of the Department of Agriculture (DA), is targeting to establish the first Fida-owned tissue culture laboratory in Davao City this year.
Dr. Olympio Macarayan, Fida regional director, told Sun.Star Davao Friday that there is already a fund for the establishment of the laboratory courtesy of DA Regional Director Roger Chio.
"Approved na ang fund, last July lang kami nagrequest for the budget, pero sinu-source out pa ang savings ng DA, hopefully within this year okay na," Macarayan said.
"In a private laboratory, farmers get the planting material for P12 which is already plantable, yun namang nasa bote pa costs P6, the farmers will be the one to transfer it sa plastic, with Fida tissue culture laboratory, farmers can get them at cheaper prices," he said, adding that in Davao City, there is only one existing tissue culture laboratory which is located in Marilog district.
Macarayan further said another good thing is that whenever Fida will have the laboratory, farmers are assured of virus-free planting materials.
"Fida has a separate laboratory wherein after the planting material will be taken out of the tissue culture laboratory, the planting material will undergo a test in our separate laboratory which will determine if the planting material is free of viruses," Macarayan said.
Macarayan said that there are three challenges identified in the abaca industry.
He said there is a lack of planting materials that are free of diseases, lack of information regarding the control of the disease in abaca, and lack of abaca capitalization for farmers.
"We have no problem about the market and the prices because abaca prices are stable and the market is always ready," Macarayan said.
The establishment of the tissue culture laboratory in Davao City would help address these challenges.
"We are also trying to tap resources from the local government units (LGUs) to produce planting materials," he said. (JGRS)
