Yesterday, two friends from Baguio City took a long drive down to Quezon City and back to bring me about 500 runners of a Strawberry variety which Cordillera farmers now call “Sweet Emmanuel.”
Yes, the farmers playfully named the strawberry after me, much to my amusement, because the original runners came from me, or to be more exact, were brought in by me from South Korea in 2018.
The runners came from a computerized Smart greenhouse in South Korea which grew strawberries and tomatoes which I and several Agriculture officials visited as a side activity during President Rody Duterte’s trip to Seoul where I was a member of the official delegation as Secretary of Agriculture.
We were allowed to pick some strawberries and when we discovered which of these were the sweetest, we asked the South Korean officials if we could get some runners.
I brought home just a few runners with me, carefully wrapped and kept inside my hand carried luggage.
Before flying home, I asked people from the Bureau of Plant Industry in the Cordillera to meet me at the airport so these could be planted right away.
Of course, these were covered with SPS clearances needed to bring in plants from other countries.
Since the propagators did not know what the specific variety was, they just called it “Sweet Emmanuel” and indeed, they say it is really sweet.
The “Sweet Emmanuel” variety is now extensively propagated by Cordillera strawberry farmers.
I will bring home with me these Sweet Emmanuel strawberry runners via the long route which I took in coming to Manila this weekend.
Since I will be taking the Surigao-Agusan-Davao route on my way home, I will ask my farmer friends from Talakag, Bukidnon, where I plan to propagate the 500 runners, to meet us up in the port of Lipata, Surigao del Norte.
From there, they will rush the strawberry runners to Miarayon, Talakag, with an elevation of 1,441-meters above-sea-level, where a nursery is ready for its propagation.
Hopefully, we will be able to grow a lot of runners which could then be shared with other farmers in the highlands of Mindanao as another high-value product which they could earn from.
From a few runners which we brought in from South Korea, we could plant Strawberries in the vast highlands of Mindanao and boost the fledgling strawberry industry of the region.
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
#AgricultureIsCommonSense!
(Photos show the Sweet Emmanuel strawberry runners brought by my friends from Baguio yesterday, Atty. Rocky Balisong and former city councilor Raffy Panagan, all die-hard supporters of President Rody Duterte.)
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