Specials NEWS

The plant craze that gripped the nation toward the middle of last year’s ECQ was a pleasant surprise for many of us. In the confines of our homes, we rediscovered our love for the natural world, particularly for plants; and with this “plant fever” a new subspecies of passionate hobbyists emerged: the Plantitos and Plantitas.

A global community of over 150 countries  observe and celebrate World Food Day, October 16th of every year. Its primary objective is to raise awareness on the importance of food security, nutrition and hunger around the world to help achieve “Zero Hunger,” one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, to eradicate hunger, attain food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.

Schoolyear 2021-2022 officially starts today as millions of public school elementary and high school students return to their gadgets to resume distance learning amid the raging coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. What awaits our students and teachers this year?

Philippine Taxonomic Initiative (PTI) has identified a new plant species, Amorphophallus minimus, in Nueva Ecija and its description is now published in the peer-reviewed Nordic Journal of Botany as of September 1, 2021. Plants from the genus Amorphophallus are commonly known as “corpse flowers” due to their particular odor. Including the new discovery of A. minimus, the Philippines now boasts 17 known endemic Amorphophallus species.

AgriTalk, Agriculture magazine and the Agriculture Training Institute’s public service program, bagged bronze in the Best in Community Service Category in the Asian Media Awards 2021, along with Hindi daily Rashtradoot’s Stand Tall with Rashtradoot.

A researcher named Kean Roe F. Mazo from Zamboanga has discovered a new plant species. It has been described and named Begonia tinuyopensis after barangay Tinuyop in which it was found. The international scientific community has accepted it as a novel species of Begonia with its recent publication in the journal Phytotaxa.