Piñol: Samar’s ‘podikit’ banana a potential export product

Former Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said he found a variety of bananas that can have a high commercial value and an increased demand.

According to Piñol, the prospect came out during an official visit in April 2018 in the town of Mapanas in Northern Samar, the hometown of the Philippine Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Bienvenido Tejano, to validate reports of the huge catch of the Pacific Tuna.

He said that indeed, the town which faces the Pacific Ocean is a rich fishing ground for the Pacific Tuna, however, the fishermen's productivity was stunted by the absence of post-harvest facilities.
"Before flying out of Mapanas, I joined the family of Ambassador Tejano for breakfast in their family home facing the Pacific Ocean," Pinol said.

According to him, the breakfast consisted of fried dried fish, fried eggplants, eggs, some meat, rice and a strange-looking banana, which he described as smaller than the common saba, a variety that is commonly steamed and usually dipped in a bowl of bagoong or fish sauce.

"The golden banana, which is slightly bigger than my thumb, was called by Samareños as 'Podikit' or 'Calbiga,'" he said.

It was learned that it is a native banana variety endemic to Samar and grows wild just about anywhere on the island.

Intrigued by its size and color, Piñol said that it is golden, not yellow.

"I took one and tasted it. Then suddenly, after taking my first bite, I asked Department of Agriculture Region 8 Technical Director Andrew Orais to start a program to preserve and propagate the 'Podikit' or 'Calbiga' Golden Bananas," he explained.

He said that "Podikit," when steamed, has firm flesh and tastes just short of being sweet.

Piñol insisted that its firmness and taste would make it the ideal variety for cooking fried "Turon," a Filipino delicacy that offers saba banana wrapped in flour.

"In fact, I told Mayor Francis John Tejano that the 'Podikit"' could be a potential export commodity as frozen microwavable banana," he stressed.

After resigning from the DA, Piñol said that he failed to follow up on the progress of the "Podikit" Banana Program of Samar Island.

"I just hope that the DA Region 8 continues working on the propagation of the 'Podikit' Golden Banana because this is one commodity that could address the massive poverty on the island," he shared.