Agriculture 05-07-2024
The INIA project that promises to deliver berry plants with phytosanitary quality to thousands of producers in the Maule region
– This is FNDR Transfer generation of a germplasm bank to obtain quality plants, a project financed by GORE Maule that seeks to establish a supply system for raspberry and strawberry plants with phytosanitary quality and varietal identification to supply the demand of the producers of Peasant Family Agriculture (AFC) of the Maule Region.
“Perspectives of the sector and technological advances” was the name of the seminar held by INIA at the Cauquenes Experimental Center to show the progress achieved by the FNDR Germoplasma Berries project in its first year of execution.
During the day, which attracted farmers, students and advisors from the Maule dryland area, a talk was also offered by the Office of Agrarian Studies and Policies (ODEPA), given by Paula Valdés, who spoke about the statistics and trends of the berry sector. For her part, Paz Millas, Deputy Director of R&D at INIA Quilamapu, gave a talk on root diseases in strawberries and raspberries. Gustavo García, Zonal Head of the private company COMFRUT, spoke to the attendees about the role of quality and safety in the export of berries.
Finally, the series of talks concluded with the presentation of Javier Chilian, who spoke about the FNDR Germoplasma Berries project, detailing the progress made by his team and offering a brief tour of the greenhouse and shadehouse, where strawberry plants free of diseases and certificates.
FNDR GERMOPLASM BERRIES
“When we talk about germplasm, we refer to that part of the plant with the capacity to generate a new one and is considered a genetic resource in any of its productive forms,” explains Chilian, PhD in Sciences with a mention in plant genetic engineering and coordinator of the project, who adds that “Many times producers generate new plants from the germplasm of a diseased one, which continues to accentuate the problem on their farms.”
Under this concept, the project seeks to establish a pathogen evaluation system that guarantees the phytosanitary quality of plant material. According to the project coordinator, Javier Chilian, the loss of competitiveness of the strawberry is largely explained by the informal multiplication of plants, with which producers inherit and multiply the diseases present in the mother plants.
For this reason, in addition to guaranteeing the phytosanitary quality of the plants, the project seeks to consolidate a genetic identification system that guarantees plant purity, systematize a plant production model that ensures the supply of material to producers and finally transfer knowledge current and developed by the project to producers, advisors and users of the production chain in the Maule region.
Although these actions are offered as a service by private entities, the target group of this proposal generally does not have access to them, so this project, which has characteristics of a public good, will allow these technologies to be brought closer to small farmers. During the 48 months that the project lasts, it is expected to generate enough plants to improve the production of the 2,330 farmers involved in the proposal.
#Chile
