In photo: Photo grabbed from a video taken by the Braveheart Media Group in the farm of Sec. Conrado Estrella III in Carmen, Pangasinan.
Two years ago, I initiated the Search for the Biggest Breadfruit in the Philippines offering a cash prize of P50,000 for the Top 3 winners.
The biggest breadfruit weighed 3.910-kilos submitted by farmer Raven Garrido, Barangay Navarro, Socorro, Surigao del Norte and he received the top prize of P25,000.
Second Place was An Margaret F. Musico of Banton, Romblon with 3.8-kilos; 3rd Place – 3.737-kilos, Lewin Villaflores Kling, Kiamba Saranggani Province; and 4th Place – 3.2-kilos, Richard Esparagoza, Jimenez, Misamis Occidental.
After the contest, I called on the Regional Offices of the Department of Agriculture where the winners came from to follow through with the Breadfruit propagation advocacy by establishing nurseries to propagate the varieties which yielded the biggest fruits.
Since I have not heard of any development after two years, I will again take the lead in establishing Mindanao’s first Breadfruit Clonal Garden with the help of Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III, a fellow advocate in Breadfruit propagation.
Sec. Estrella has pledged 50 Clonal Materials of Breadfruit, including at least 4 varieties which came from Hawaii for the Mindanao Breadfruit Clonal Garden.
After the Holy Week, I will be getting the 50 Breadfruit Clonal materials from his farm in Rosales, Carmen, Pangasinan and with the help of a friend, trucker Roberto Alba, Jr., these will be brought to Kidapawan City.
I have earmarked a 1-hectare plot in the property owned by my daughter, Dr. Maria Krista and her husband, Chito Solis, where the Breadfruit Clonal materials will be propagated.
It has been established that Breadfruit could be grown in my daughter’s farm because the first Breadfruit seedling that was planted here is already bearing fruits after 3 years.
Along with the outstanding varieties from Mindanao which won the Search for the Biggest Breadfruit, we will propagate this very important fruit tree through Asexual Propagation or Tissue Culture.
