Home | To bottom

Benguet imports new strawberry variety

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet (Jan. 25) — The municipal government of La Trinidad imported a new variety of strawberry from California in its plan to replace the existing variety.

According to Mayor Nestor Fongwan, 32,000 strawberry runners of the camarosa and festival varieties were imported; 22,000 of which were sold to farmers for trial propagation to test the adaptability to the town’s climate. He added that the rest of the plantlets would be propagated by the municipal agriculturist office (MAO).

Fongwan said that there is a need to replace the current variety called the “sweet Charlie”, imported from Argentina in 2003, because this variety has already deteriorated and has been infected with diseases.

“We are not very sure of the quality, we have to try it ourselves before we can say it is adaptable to our climate,” the mayor stressed.

Fongwan also assured that the new imported variety underwent and passed the pest risk analysis (PRA) requirement and proper customs procedure.

Out of the 800 strawberry growers in La Trinidad, 140 farmers availed of the said seedlings sold at P16 per plantlet. The importation costs over half a million pesos if 32,000 strawberry plantlets were sold at cost.

Fongwan further explained that the plantlets had to be sold to regain the funds used to import the said new plant materials for future projects. He said the municipal government is looking into importing flower-planting materials after the successful propagation of strawberry.

Each mother plant can produce a minimum of 50 runners in six months at nursery, according to the MAO.

The MAO representative also said, the camarosa could yield fruits three times, unlike other varieties, which yield only once. Both the camarosa and festival varieties are more rain tolerant and produce firmer fruits, which is favorable to post harvest processing and shipment. # Kimberlie Olmaya Quitasol for NORDIS

Post your comments, reactions to this article

Home | Back to top