DA urges Pinoys: Buy indigenous fruits for New Year

MANILA, Philippines - One of the local traditions in celebrating the coming of the New Year is to prepare 12 round fruits to bring luck and prosperity for the next 12 months.

Keeping this tradition in mind, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala urged Filipinos to patronize indigenous fruits in season.

He said among these fruits are pomelo, atis, duhat, rambutan, santol, melon, calamansi, dalandan, lanzones, chico, langka, pineapple, mango, durian, avocado, mabolo, chesa, balimbing, aratilis, mangosteen, pakwan, bignay, dragonfruit, papaya, buko, granada, kalumpit, sampinit and yambo.

Sampinit is known as wild raspberry while kalumpit is known as wild plum. Yambo, on the other hand, is a fruit that resembles makopa, Alcala said.