The Institute of Plant Breeding under the University of the Philippines Los Baños College of Agriculture and Food Science (UPLB CAFS IPB) turned over 7,500 vegetable seed packets to oil spill affected-communities in MIMAROPA on 27 March 2023 at the DA-MIMAROPA Main Office.
This was made possible through the project titled, Scaling-out the Utilization of IPB-Developed Seeds for Selected Lowland Vegetables toward Sustainable Seed System, aimed to assist households and farming communities stricken by calamities in immediate rehabilitation through provision of alternative source of food and income.
The vegetable seed packets were handed over by the UPLB CAFS IPB director Fe dela Cueva to DA-MIMAROPA regional executive director Engr. Maria Christine Inting. A simple turnover ceremony was held previously at the IPB, represented by DA Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban and the National Program director for Urban Agriculture Gerald Glenn Panganiban, together with the project team leaders and senior consultants from IPB.
Regional executive director Engr. Inting gratefully acknowledged the support in meeting the food and nutrition security needs of fishery families, as well as residents in oil spill-affected areas in Oriental Mindoro, adding that vegetable production in their homes may offer an alternative or supplemental source of food and income. In turn, IPB director dela Cueva assured the provision of technical assistance to ensure the availability of good quality seeds in support of the office’s initiatives to sustain food production systems in the region.
Funded by the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research, the said seed systems project has already distributed and made available 100,500 basic or breeder seed packets of selected IPB-approved varieties of lowland vegetables and legumes to partner DA regional field offices (RFOs) since 2022.
Under the project, the produced breeder or foundation seeds will also be distributed to partner local government units, interested state universities and colleges, seeds growers, and cooperatives toward commercial scale seed production and distribution or sale to end-users.
With established seed production partnership with nine DA-RFOs, IPB has an ongoing production of basic and breeder seeds from 17 crops and 31 varieties. These include tomato, eggplant, squash, pole sitao, bush sitao, cowpea, ampalaya, cucumber, okra, upo, patola, roselle, winged bean, lima bean, mungbean, peanut, and food soybeans.
Further to this, DA and IPB also provided trainings and produced different information, education, and communication materials to outscale the adoption of package of technologies and enhance technical capacities of seed growers, associations, and cooperatives.