Cavite farmers to benefit from fruit tree scion network

By Audrey O. Lapitan
MediaCore, PCARRD

Cavite farmers now have easy access to quality fruit tree planting materials with the establishment of the Fruit Tree Scion Network at the Cavite State University in Indang town. 

The FTSN is a joint project of CvSU, Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development, Southern Tagalog Agriculture and Resources Research and Development, Department of Agriculture, and local government units in Cavite.

The network traces its roots in the Foundation Grove in CvSU, which was established as a major component of their collaborative project on Fruit Trees Seedling Seed Extension and Enterprise Development or SEED Project under STARRDEC's Regional SEED support program.  PCARRD funded the first year implementation of SEED project.

The FG was established to provide scions to seedlings and cloned materials in nurseries.  PCARRD believes that this strategy strengthens the local fruit industry.  The project provides farmers with quality planting materials of selected fruits like rambutan, durian, and banana.

STARRDEC, one of the project collaborators based in University of the Philippines Los Baños, is PCARRD's research and development consortium in Region IV.