Councilor Marissa S. Abella, chair of the Committee on Agriculture, Aquaculture, and Food of the City Council, announced on Tuesday her ongoing discussion for a possible joint research and development venture on Durian with the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited.
She said the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research will share its P15 million funds for the study and the city government of Davao will shell out P10 million as counterpart.
“They have the technical know-how for the plant and fruits, especially for export quality. If ever the city will approve of its counterpart, they will be conducting a study for three years,” Abella said during the Aprubado sa Konseho media briefing.
Abella said the study, which will run for three years, will help Davao farmers produce export-quality Durian and prevent problems like molds.
“Example for this, giuli ng Vietnam sa China ang Durian shipment because delikado for export quality and there are some problems especially na bag-o lang ta naka-export sa China, there are some other problems like molds,” she said.
She said she’d been discussing with the Davao City Durian Council coming up with a study of producing export-quality Durian.
“Para ma-convince namo ang atong City Mayor and Davao City na maka-come up ingani na study para ang atong export in China will be of quality. This means further study of what happened on the molds nga naabot man sa China maybe because of the post-harvest facility, inputs nga gibutang sa Durian. This study is very important para guided ang farmers and exporters of Durian,” she said.
Abella said she is looking at passing the ordinance with the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited in May this year.
Abella also said that she visited a research project site in Barangays Sirib and Manuel Guianga in Calinan District on Durian and cacao being undertaken by the research staff of USM Kabacan.
“This is to improve the yield of cacao and Durian and improve the cultural practices of the crops,” she said.
