(Photo from Taguig.com)
During a recent event in New York City, an Ube food festival was launched, centered around various Filipino ube delicacies.
Starbucks in America also released their "Ube Spring Drinks", which are also available in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, and the Netherlands.
The province of Bohol is the largest producer of ube in the Philippines, accounting for 35% of the country's total production.
However, the growers in Bohol face various challenges such as a lack of planting materials, unscientific production practices, and outdated technology.
Before its boom overseas, the country's ube production was already declining. According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the total production only reached 30,074 metric tonnes in 2006. This is a decrease of over 50% compared to the total production in 2020, which was 14,000 metric tonnes.
To address this issue, the Philippine Root Crop Research and Training Center of Visayas State University (VSU-PhilRootcrops), in partnership with Bohol Island State University (BISU), led the development of new ube planting methods which were taught to Bohol farmers.
Among these methods is the minisett technique. Used in agriculture as a fast method of propagating ube or purple yam, it involves cutting healthy, whole "mother" tubers into small pieces.
Through the minisett propagation technique, farmers can produce over 30 quality planting materials, compared to the current 7 to 10 planting materials produced from one kilo of ube under traditional planting methods.
In the minisett propagation technique, it is first placed in a seedbed for germination.
