Kidapawan City – As my personal advocacy, I am now sharing for free scions of the first “EVIARC Sweet” or “Abuyog Sweet” jackfruit variety for grafting.
I am promoting the planting of “Langka” because of its great potentials in the market.
In fact, the Philippines right now is importing P500-M worth of “langka” from Vietnam for the “Turon” and Ice-Cream making industry.
That sounds crazy, right?
“Langka” or Jackfruit has remained to be the ubiquitous tree that grows in almost all rural areas in the country whose value in addressing malnutrition and rural poverty, not to mention the prevention of soil erosion, has not been fully exploited.
When we were young growing up in the provinces, special gatherings were always celebrated by serving the iconic “Lauya” or KBL which stands for “Kadyos” (Black Beans), “Baboy” (Pork) and “Langka” (Jackfruit).
Yes, “Langka” or “Nangka” (scientific name: Artocarpus heterophyllus) has largely been ignored by Philippine Agriculture and has never been considered as a high-value crop just like Coffee, Cacao, Lanzones and other fruit trees.
When I was with the Department of Agriculture (DA), I campaigned for the planting of fruit trees in the mountainous and sloping agricultural areas of the country for food production and soil erosion prevention.
Today, as a true-blue farmer, I am continuing my advocacy for the planting of “Langka” along with Avocado.
I have planted hundreds of the EVIARC Sweet, also known as Abuyog Sweet, variety of “Langka” in my farm in Kidapawan City, in 2016 shortly after I tasted it and realized we have a potential high value product.
The trees are now bearing fruits and I am inviting other interested farmers to just come to the farm and get as many grafting scions as you need.
I believe that to be able to influence a market, dapat volume ang production of a specific product.
Kung ako lang mag-isa ang may “Langka,” I could not get big buyers to come to Cotabato or Mindanao, for that matter, and buy my produce.
Pero kung marami tayo at tone-tonelada ang production natin, we could actually grab the market from the Vietnamese and Thai suppliers.
Tamang-tama, it is the start of the rainy season. This would be a good time to start grafting your “Langka” so that in three years, marami na tayong may EVIARC Sweet.
Just come to the farm. Kung wala ako, just look for my cousin and farm manager, Neri Sodusta. He will help you prepare the scions for grafting.
(All photos were taken in my farm, except the last which was taken by my brother, Efren, of his first production of the EVIARC Sweet.)
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