The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) collaborated with several private organizations towards ensuring greater productivity in banana production.
These collaborations included that with the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), Bioversity International, Lapanday Tissue Culture Laboratory in Davao City, and Banana Asia-Pacific Network (BAPNET).
The collaboration with FFF focused on the promoting banana production for intercropping with coconut. The P11million PCAARRD grant under the collaboration led to the establishment of 45 additional banana farms in Laguna, Quezon, and Bohol. This augmented the income of coconut farmers through the community-based farming scheme. Under the scheme, each cluster of growers obtained their tissue-cultured lakatan from community-based nurseries.
The Bioversity International, on the other hand, provided technical assistance; information, education and communication materials; and funding support to the various aspects of research and development (R&D) activities, particularly on fusarium wilt race identification, virus indexing techniques, nursery management, and germplasm maintenance.
The Lapanday Tissue Culture Laboratory in Davao City assisted the various projects on banana by providing disease-free planting materials at fair prices.
PCAARRD’s active membership in BAPNET gave local researchers and scientists access to current technologies being adopted in neighboring Asian countries. It also provided opportunities for Filipino R&D workers to participate in training and workshops on banana-related topics and other relevant areas of cooperation.