By Izah Morales

MALUNGGAY is often known as one of the ingredients of “Tinolang Manok,” which makes this Filipino specialty’s soup green and nutritious.

But did you know that malunggay contains seven times more vitamin C than orange, four times more calcium than milk, four times more vitamin A than carrots, three times more potassium than banana and more iron than pechay.

Hence the name “power gulay,” says the Department of Agriculture-Biotech Program Office (DA-BPO).

Malunggay is key in government’s current strategy to reduce malnutrition in the country.

According to DA-BPO director Alicia Ilaga, the country’s experts were able to extract oil from the seeds of malunggay, which can now be used as vegetable or industrial oil.

Malunggay is now being developed into hair wax, tea, capsules and other health and wellness products.

Amid all these benefits, only few seeds of malunggay for planting are available, Ilaga says.

During a recent campaign led by the DA-BPO, the agency was able to collect only 1 metric ton of malunggay seeds.

The DA-BPO is currently looking into several initiatives to boost supply of seeds.

The agency hopes to create malunggay nurseries. It is also planning to develop a technology for mass propagation using tissue culture of malunggay.

The Bureau of Plant Industry and the Department of Agriculture in Region III are now developing a commercial planting package of technology through the DA-BPO.

Government has organized a network of growers, seed suppliers, technology developers called Malunggay Biotech Information Organization Network to also boost supply of malunggay seeds.

“We would like to unify and combine efforts from different sectors so that we can support the development of the [malunggay] industry,” says Ilaga.