Approximately 150 forestry students from Aurora State College (ASC) Department of Forestry and Environmental sciences visited the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) as part of their educational tour in the North on February 24-25, 2014. The students were given the opportunity to discover the university’s origin, including its curricular offerings, center of excellence and development and facilities through a virtual tour.
Before the campus tour, the forestry students gathered in the ILARRDEC One Stop Information Shop (OSIS) for a lecture on bamboo technologies. For. Charlie B. Batin and Engr. Jose A. Zafaralla, MMSU technical experts on bamboo served as resource speakers and shared bamboo technologies developed by the university from nursery establishment to harvesting and processing. For. Batin discussed the one node cutting technology as a propagation technique in the production of quality planting materials and PoPeYe (poles per year) technology for the rehabilitation of natural bamboo stands for the production of high quality poles needed in the bamboo industry today.
On the other hand, Engr. Zafaralla talked about the processing technologies on bamboo such as E-kawayan machineries, bamboo products and charcoal briquette. Through these lectures, the students were able to familiarize on various machineries and equipment in the production of E-kawayan products. Actual demonstration of bamboo processing technologies was done in the afternoon.
The forestry group is headed by the College Dean and faculty members of the said school.
By: Charlie B. Batin
