‘Chopstick tree’ seed technology developed

Chopsticks. Popsicle sticks. Toothpicks. Ice cream spoons. Food boxes exported to Japan.

These items are produced from a forest tree species called "malapapaya"?

This species, so-called because it looks like a papaya plant but it does not bear edible fruit, used to abound in forests. But the source of malapapaya wood had in recent years been depleted because of excessive logging and slash-and-burn ("kaingin") farming.

Now comes an encouraging scientific headway: Procedures on the massive propagation of malapapaya seedlings have been developed by researchers of the Los Baños-based Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (DENR-ERDB).

Under an agreement with the MP Wood Phils.,ERDB, through its researchers Rosalinda Reaviles and Maria Dayan, developed the technology, ensuring the establishment of medium and large plantations. – Rudy A. Fernandez