City Agriculture Office, Gingoog City--- The need to provide the banana farmers of Gingoog City the management practices for banana to enhance production has been timely since “Bugtok” is the culprit why they have decreased yield. “Bugtok” is a disease caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas solanacearum which affects mostly the Saba or Cardaba variety of banana.

Dubbed as Super Saba: A Training on Securing Food Sufficiency of the Country through Banana Production, the training transpired on August 15-17, 2017 at the City Agriculture Office (CAO) in Gingoog City.

Resource Person Bruce Condeza kicked off his topic and presentation delivery with a name game of some of the popular banana varieties in the country while Mr. Rodulfo R. Caballero of LRC Farm, one of the many Learning Sites (LS) of the center shared his personal experience regarding Cultural Practices of Banana and Utilization.

Training Specialist-III and Career Development Management Services (CDMS) Chief Teodosia D. Jaraba presented the importance of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and its certification scheme which is integral in the implementation of ASEAN integration to make our farm produce a top notch commodity and at par with high quality goods in the global market today.

“I have learned more on land preparation, maintenance of the farm and good ways how to harvest banana. In addition to this, I have learned how to prepare OHN and FPJ and how to make banana chips. I will take advantage of the technologies and tips given to us because it is an opportunity that should never be wasted. While most traning participants listen and take down notes on the technologies that interests them, I go the extra mile by practicing what I have learned in theory and ask questions if ever my first attempt did not work”, said Rogelio B. Camay, one of the farmer-participants of the said training.

To prevent pest infestation and other virus or bacteria-related diseases in your banana area, farm sanitation is still the best farming practice and approach to improve productivity and quality yield such as:

+ Base cleaning and ring weeding

+ Leaf pruning or trimming

+ Stem and mat sanitation

+ Sucker pruning

Facilitated by Project Officer Moisa Nina D. Catiil, Super Saba: A Training on Securing Food Sufficiency of the Country through Banana Production also included a discussion on GAP principles which is geared towards food safety, product quality and post-handling of banana.