Called "modified hydroponics", the system was developed under a project jointly undertaken by government agencies and MP Agri-Tech, a private company.
The government entities providing technical and financial support to the venture are the Department of Agriculture – Region 11 headed by Regional Executive Director Roger Chio, DA-Southern Mindanao Integrated Agricultural Research Center (SMIARC) with Dr. Alfredo Cayabyab as manager, DA-Bureau of Agriculture Research (BAR) headed by Director Nicomedes P. Eleazar, Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (QUEDANCOR) under president Nelson Buenaflor, DA-Regional Crop Protection Center headed by Dr. Susan Razo, Davao City government led by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Davao City Agriculturist Office, and barangay government units.
Titled "Potato production in modified hydroponics," the DA-BAR-funded project started in 2004 in the highlands of Datu Salumay, Marilog, Davao City, to produce clean potato seeds for Mindanao and subsequently for the country.
Researchers and staff members of the government and private entities involved in the project include Dr. Razo (project leader), Dr. Cayabyab, Luis Pacana, Rufino Odtojan, and Jovita Astilla.
Literally, hydroponics means (in Latin) "water working." It is often defined as "the cultivation of plants in water."
Hydroponics has later been broadly defined as "cultivation of plants without soil" or the science of growing plants without the use of soil, but with the use of inert media. It is often termed "soil-less culture."
In the project, potatoes were grown in inert media (sand and coconut coir dust) that serve as anchors of the roots.
An advantage of these sterile media is that soil-borne pests and diseases are immediately eliminated. The tubers, moreover, have better quality and have much longer shelf life than those grown in soil.
Dr. Cayabyab, in an interview with this writer here, said that a number of farmers have adopted the technology. He added that the technology innovation has great potentials in the Davao and Cotabato provinces, which hold good promise of becoming the "potato bowl" in Southern Mindanao.
The varieties used in the research were Granola (a ware potato) and Atlantic (the processing type).
DA-Region 11’s Socorro R. Supino reported that based on the first cropping’s actual result, 1,000 bags of potato plants yielded 810 kilograms of potato tubers. These were sold at P35/kg, giving a total revenue of P28,350.
The production cost was financed by QUEDANCOR and extended as a loan to the farmer-cooperators, payable within three cropping seasons. The farmers are optimistic that they can pay the entire loan and get a net profit of more than P17,000 in the second cropping. – Rudy A. Fernandez