Kuningan develops 'superior' fruit

BOGOR: Kuningan regency in West Java has teamed up with the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) to develop a center for research and the cultivation of "superior" fruit.

IPB spokesman Agus Lelana said on Friday that Kuningan Regent Aang Hamid Suganda would provide 10 hectares of farmland for the center in a bid to boost agriculture and the tourist industry in the regency.

Researchers have been working to cultivate papaya, banana, pineapple and mangosteen plants which bear better quality fruit than that which is imported.

IPB rector A. Ansori Mattjik said the institute's Tropical Fruit Research Center had produced Papaya IPB 1, which can be harvested all year. -- JP