Babel Provincial Government Preserves Local Durian Germplasm Through Contest

The Provincial Government of the Bangka Belitung Islands is striving to preserve the germplasm of superior local durians through a durian contest to help improve farmers’ welfare. Head of the Babel Province Agriculture and Food Security Agency, Kurniawan, stated in West Bangka on Thursday that the durian contest held in Pelangas Village, West Bangka, is a concrete government effort to make local durians more widely known nationally and even internationally. “So far, there are still many local durians scattered in various remote villages that have the potential to become superior durians but have not had the opportunity. Through this contest, we are trying to make them better known so that their selling value increases,” he said. The durian contest, organised by the Babel Agriculture and Food Security Agency through the Seed Quality Verification and Supervision Technical Implementation Unit, is a form of the Babel Provincial Government’s seriousness, together with the regencies, to save and preserve the wealth of local fruit germplasm, especially durian, which is spread to remote villages. “This is important to do so that the economic potential of the plantation sector does not become extinct or get claimed by other regions,” he said. He explained that the government has also been identifying and exploring new local durian parent trees that have not been exposed. “This contest is also our way of preparing candidate local superior varieties to be registered as national superior varieties, because becoming a national superior variety will certainly boost the fruit’s selling value, thereby increasing farmers’ income,” he said. In addition, the routine implementation of contests in various villages that are durian production centres will also help the community develop agro-tourism. This durian contest was participated in by 52 participants/varieties from various regencies/cities in Babel. The agency brought in professional and independent judges from academia, BRIN researchers, national durian practitioners, and plant seed supervisory experts from the Goods Quality Testing and Certification Technical Implementation Unit. “We conducted the judging objectively, and in this contest, two national superior varieties from Babel, namely Namlung and Klamunot durians, were not included to give new varieties a chance to emerge as champions,” he said. After the contest, the nominated durians will receive government attention with observation and protection of the intellectual property rights of the winning parent trees. “The five selected superior durians will be registered with the Ministry of Agriculture through the Directorate General of Horticulture so they can be recorded nationally and the parent trees can be developed,” he said.