RC Agri-business Center was initiated in 2002 due to the growing demand for tissue culture plantlets from lakatan and cardaba growers in the Province of Cotabato . As a banana farmer himself, the proprietor, Mr. Rudy S. Caoagdan faced difficulty in sourcing tissue culture plantlets from commercial laboratories like that were concentrating on tissue culture plantlets for cavendish growers.
With his own capital, the proponent decided to put up a tissue culture laboratory primarily to serve small banana growers in Makilala, Magpet, and Kidapawan.
The company released its first batch of 5,000 banana tissue culture plantlets in October 2003. As more farmers became aware of the local supply, the demand increased to about 20,000 plantlets per month and additional equipment were installed in 2003 to 2004 to enable the company to produce 40,000 plantlets per month.
In 2005, the company produced 375,000 plantlets for farmers in the Province of Cotabato , Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao at prices ranging from P12 – P14/ plantlet. The company employs about 47 people in the operations and has a present asset size of P 20 Million.
With assistance from the Department of Agriculture (DA) Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) the company was able to modernize its operation and expanded capacity to 350,000 plantlets per month to meet growing demand. The DA-ACEF assistance was utilized for improvements of main laboratory building, grow-out nursery, office/training center and upgrading of laboratory equipment.
RC Agri-business Center is a duly certified laboratory by the Central Mindanao Integrated Agricultural Research Center (DA-CEMIARC) that the plantlets are free from symptoms of systematic diseases. The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Cotabato Province passed Resolution No. 292-2006 awarding a Plaque of Recognition to the proponent in recognition of his efforts to develop the Banana Industry in the Province of Cotabato.
Positive Prospects for the Banana Industry
Banana is considered as the most important high value crop, both being a source of food and dollar earnings from exports. The country is the 3 rd largest banana producer in the world with 8.5% share. Total banana exports in 2003 amounted to US & 333 Million on a volume of 1.828 million metric tons. Total production in 2003 was 5.5 million tons growing at 3.5% per year. Southern Philippines accounts for 74.5% of production with Region XI leading all regions with 29% share . By province, Davao del Norte is the major producer with 15%; Compostela Valley, 11%; Davao del Sur, 9%; and Cotabato Province, 6 %.
The demand for banana tissue culture plantlets is driven by the continuing expansion of areas planted to cardaba and lakatan in various provinces in Mindanao. As of 2003 the total area planted to cardaba in Mindanao is 74,090 hectares and for lakatan , 26,904 hectares or a total of 100,994 hectares. The average number of hills for cardaba is 700 and 1,500 hills for lakatan per hectare. At a rate of 20% replanting, the total demand for tissue culture is about 10.36 million and 7.8 million for cardaba and lakatan or a total of 18.16 million per year. The proposed capacity of the project at 3 million per year is only 16% of the demand.
Situationer
The Province of Cotabato looks at banana as a crop that continuously provides a substantial income to many growers both at the backyard and commercial scale. The emergence of banana buying stations and processors in the neighboring Provinces of Davao triggered the growth of banana plantations in the Province of Cotabato in order to supply the demand of these processors and buyers. Primarily, these buyers supply the increasing demand of banana specifically the demand in Manila as well as its export market. On the other hand banana fruits processors in the nearby provinces process banana to produce products like banana chips, banana sauce and others products that can be derived from banana fruits. Due to the increasing demand of banana fruit, the farmers in the vicinity of the province convincingly shows interest in growing banana in their farms. Such that, farmers that grows rubber trees in the province signify to replant their unproductive rubber plantation with banana crops because of the opportunity they saw with banana crops.
One of the problems the farmers encountered in planting banana is the selection of right planting materials that are free from diseases and planting materials that will have a uniform growth. In order to establish a sustainable plantation the farmers should select planting materials that are free of any diseases that would hamper the growth and productivity of the plantations. Also the farmers should see to it that the plantation would have a uniform growth in order to attain greater volume in yield. To address the problem of planting materials selection and growth uniformity, the government through the Bureau of Plant Industry established two Laboratories stations located in Kabacan and Kidapawan to provide planting materials for banana plantations. But the fact that Cotabato and Davao Provinces are one of the sources of high quality banana fruits in the world; more and more farmers seek banana-planting materials. The two laboratories in the province that produces tissue culture banana planting materials can no longer satisfy the demand of the seedling's in the province because more farmers are in the waiting list in acquisition of these high quality planting materials. Due to the scarcity of banana planting materials source the project was conceptualized mainly to provide good quality planting materials and to address the problem on the uniformity growth of the plantation.
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