Ramon Barba

Ramon Cabanos Barba (August 31, 1939 – October 10, 2021) was a Filipino inventor and horticulturist best known for inventing a way to induce more flowers in mango trees using ethrel and potassium nitrate. Barba was proclaimed a National Scientist of the Philippines in June 2014.

Early life and education The son of Juan Madamba Barba and Lourdes Cabanos of San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, Barba was born on August 31, 1939, He finished his elementary schooling at Sta. Rosa Academy in 1951.

Career in horticulture Graduate studies Barba received a scholarship from the University of Georgia where he began conducting experiments on inducing the flowering of plants using gibberellic acid and potassium nitrate as a fertilizer. He graduated with distinction with a Master of Science in Horticulture from the university in 1962. Previously, mangoes were only available in the Philippines in May; owing to Barba's innovation as initially tested at Quimara Farms, mango trees can be induced to flower out of season using potassium nitrate and not only in May, which would lead to fruiting several times a year without harming the plants, drastically elevated the productivity of the mango farms. His study, titled Induction of Flowering of the Mango by Chemical Spray was named best paper by the Crop Science Society of the Philippines (CSSP) in 1974. Barba was recognized as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men in Agriculture that same year.

Other studies Barba advanced the research on various tropical crops besides mangoes. His many research breakthroughs include banana micropropagation and tissue culture of sugarcane and tissue culture of calamansi, all of which have lasting impacts on the respective agribusiness potentials of these commodities.

Awards 2014: National Scientist of the Philippines 2016: Asian Scientist 100, Asian Scientist

Death

Barba died on October 10, 2021, at the age of 82. A state funeral was accorded to Barba, who was laid to rest at the Heroes’ Cemetery in Taguig on October 16.