Best Seeds! EAST-WEST, KANEKO DOMINATE MINDANAO VEGETABLE DERBY

Miarayon, Talakag, Bukidnon – Top Philippine vegetable seed companies East-West and Pilipinas Kaneko romped off with four awards each for outstanding seeds and farm practices performance during the season-long Mindanao Vegetable Derby which stretched from July and ended first week of December 2020.

Three other seed companies also won major awards in a field trial conducted to determine which vegetable seeds would perform best in specific locations.

Here are the location winners:

In Sumilao town:

– Best Carrot Seeds – Pilipinas Kaneko Seeds

– Best Cabbage Seed – East West Seeds

– Best Ombok Seeds – Pilipinas Kaneko Seeds

In Impasug-ong:

– Best Carrot Seed – East West Seeds

– Best Cabbage Seed – East West Seeds

– Best Ombok Seed – East West Seeds

In Lantapan:

– Best Carrot Seeds – Greenseeds

– Best Cabbage Seeds – Pilipinas Kaneko

– Best Ombok Seeds – Ramgo Seeds

In Talakag:

– Best Carrot Seed – Allied Botanicals

– Best Cabbage Seed – Pilipinas Kaneko

– Best Ombok Seed – Allied Botanicals

Over-all, East-West Seeds came out as the big winner as two of its farmer-cooperators who used their seeds and technology won the 2020 Mindanao Cabbage King (Queen) Award through woman-farmer Beatriz Homonlay and the Ombok King Award copped by farmer Rey Resullar of Impasug-ong town.

Allied Botanicals farmer cooperator, Ryan Danio, won the 2020 Mindanao Carrots King Award with quality Carrots and a huge harvest of 22.4-metric tons in one hectare for a gross earnings of P1.1-M in less than four months.

In the selection of the winners for best seeds in the 4 derby sites in IMTASULA, the following criteria were used:

– Points were rated by assessing the physical and chemical quality of the produce, percentage of marketable yield and conformance to the good agricultural practices;

– The evaluation was conducted following the double blind assessment procedure,

– Sequence of the evaluation was controlled by the technician in-charge of the derby site and not by the evaluators;

– The technician in-charge does not have access to the assessment reports of the evaluators.

The members of the evaluating team were:

– Dr. Raymond Ruba, professor of Horticulture from Central Mindanao University (CMU-Musuan);

– Dr. Mel Sales, professor of soil and plant nutrition and head of USMARC Central Laboratory from University of Southern Mindanao (USM-Kabacan);

– James Sale, High Value Crops Coordinator of the provincial agriculture office of Bukidnon;

– Dr. Isaac Bangcaya, former director for research of the Department of Agriculture Region 12; and

– Rolly Ramos, agriculturist and farmer-entrepreneur representing the private sector.

The first-ever Mindanao Vegetable Derby was initiated by the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) as part of its advocacy to develop the different industries in Mindanao to improve productivity, reduce poverty, preserve the gains of peace and rev up the region’s economic recovery.

#AgricultureIsCommonSense!

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!