Published September 22, 2024 by Campus Information Office
A team of researchers from Cagayan State University-Gonzaga (CSU-Gonzaga), led by the Campus Executive Officer Dr. Froilan A. Pacris, Jr., participated in a three-day capacity-building program on potato micropagation and seed production. The event, held from September 16-18 at the Northern Philippines Root Crop Research and Training Center in Benguet State University, La Trinidad, Benguet, and the Philippine Bamboosetum, Bamboo City, focused on advanced techniques in horticultural crop propagation.
The CSU-Gonzaga team, composed of key researchers involved in the campus’s latest research project, attended the training to enhance their skills and knowledge. The project, titled “Increasing the Availability of Quality Planting Materials of Selected Horticultural Crops Through Tissue Culture Propagation in Cagayan,” is funded by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR).
Dr. Froilan A. Pacris, Jr., who also serves as the Project Leader, was accompanied by Study Leaders Dr. Jayrome Butay and Ms. Myraly Marcos. Other researchers who took part in the capacity-building program included Ms. Jona Asuncion and Ms. Vivien Gabriel.
The training aims to equip the team with the necessary technical skills to effectively implement the tissue culture propagation project, which focuses on increasing the availability of planting materials for horticultural crops like Lakatan bananas, pineapples, and lowland potatoes in the Cagayan region. This initiative is expected to significantly improve local agricultural productivity and sustainability through the use of innovative propagation techniques.