Offering sustainable food and new livelihood for farmers and women in Ilocandia, the MMSU distributes moringa seedlings to interested farmer organizations in Ilocos Norte.

This February, some 2,000 moringa seedlings from the Malunggay Nursery in Lubbot Experimental Farm were distributed. Six farmer organization from Dingras and Solsona received these seedlings produced through the project, Massive Moringa Seedling Production, funded by the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“Malunggay is a high-value crop. And with its promises for pharmaceutical applications, we envision the Ilocos to be a hub of this ‘green gold’, shared MMSU President, Dr. Shirley C Agrupis, project leader of the Malunggay project.

A total of 40,000 moringa seedlings will be distributed. Last December, the University started training interested individuals and organizations in the Ilocos that shall bolster the province to be a strategic plantation of malunggay in the country.

The University has likewise initiated bolder steps to intensify malunggay production. The project, Accelerating Moringa Commercialization through Academe-Community-Industry Partnerships, with funding support from the Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR) will be instrumental in establishing in-campus malunggay plantations and off-campus production areas. The project will establish partnership with farmer cooperatives and organizations to partner local government units (LGUs) to include Piddig, Dingras, City of Batac, Paoay, Currimao, Solsona, and Badoc, and many others.

The University will also lead in the establishment of key processing facilities for herbal plants through the project, Upgrading and Expansion of the Moringa Processing Facilities into Herbal Research for Development (R4D) Processing Facility in the MMSU Lubbot Experimental Farm, with funding support from the DA-BAR.

The distribution of malunggay seedlings continues to LGUs which signified their interest for the project.

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