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Philippine
Panorama, Agri-Talk, Sunday, July 8, 2001 |
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More Luzon Fruit Farmers are
Discovering Durian |
| by Zac B.
Sarian |
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Durian used to be thought of
as an exotic fruit that can only grow in Mindanao. Not
anymore. An increasing number of farmers in Luzon are
discovering durian as a high-value fruit, crop with a lot of
potential as a money maker.
Just the other week, Pablito Panares who has a farm in Batac,
Ilocos Norte, was telling us that the grafted durian
seedlings he bought from a weekend market in Quezon City
four years ago are now flowering. That's one reason he is
planning to plant some more.
About the same time, Bernie Dizon had harvested his Monthong durian at his demo farm at the Central Luzon State
University in Nueva Ecija. One tree bore 70 fruits. Some of
them were brought to the open house at the Ninoy Aquino
Parks and Wildlife in Quezon City for tasting and the
verdict was that the taste could compare with the best
durian grown in Davao or in Thailand. That's because he
fertilized his trees with adequate amounts of potash and
trace elements.
Also recently, Mrs. Natividad Abrigo was telling us
about her fruitful durian trees in Calauan, Laguna. For
several years now, the trees have been fruiting heavily. The
same is true with the durian tress of lawyer. Victor P.
Lazatin who has an 11-hectare orchard in Tiaong, Quezon. His
double rootstock durian trees are heavy with fruits at this
time of the year.
In Palawan, Roy Rodriguez who runs a butterfly farm in
Puerto Princesa also has a few durian trees that have been
fruiting regularly during the past few years.
All this shows that indeed Mindanao has no monopoly for
durian. Thanks to improved technologies and the introduction
of superior durian varieties, this fruit is expected to draw
the interest of even more planters in Luzon and elsewhere.
As of now, we know of several fruit aficionados from Bicol
who have bought planting materials of the Malaysian D24
variety which they will plant in their own farms.
Actually, the growing the better-quality imported
varieties of durian started as early as the 1960s in Luzon.
The late Dr. Dioscoro L. Umali pioneered in growing the
Bangkok varieties in his 4-hectare farm behind his house in
Los Baños. There was no conscious effort, however, to spread
the technology.
In the late 1980s, some people started trying to plant
durian in their own farms or backyards. These include a
medical doctor from San Jose, Batangas, who planted a few
hectares to durian.
Another is Marino Roxas of Alaminos, Laguna, who
experimented with 10 trees obtained from Dean Umali. With
increasing success of people like Mr. Roxas, more and more
Luzon farmers are now planting durian.
More planters are also discovering the better varieties
like the D24 from Malaysia which is also the favorite of
businessman Danding Cojuangco who has the biggest durian
plantation in the country located in Pontevedra, Negros
Occidental. He is also planting this variety in a
1,000-hectare durian project in Davao.
Bernie Dizon who has been propagating a lot of double
rootstock durian stresses that we can grow high-quality
durian in Luzon. He has not only proven growing first class
durian fruits in CLSU but also at Quezon City. |
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