DA crafts 5-year roadmap for mango industry

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) plans to craft a five-year masterplan for the local mango industry which is experiencing decline in production despite the increasing demand in the country and abroad.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said the DA would hold a consultative forum with industry stakeholders to formulate the five-year Philippine Mango Industry Development Roadmap.

Mango is one of the most premium agricultural exports of the Philippines.

“While the demand for mango has increased over the years, Philippine mango production has declined drastically. The roadmap is expected to bring back the Philippine mango to its glory,” Pinol said.

The Philippine Mango Growers Association said national production has dropped from an average of over one million metric tons annually to only 400,000 MT last year.

The agri chief recently met with Cebu-based businessman Justin Uy, one of the pioneers in the dried mango industry, to discuss the pressing problems of the industry.

Uy exports dried mangoes to 52 countries around the world and is the only Philippine brand carried by Costco, the largest American membership-only warehouse club.

“He cited problems confronting the industry, from simple government bureaucratic red tape like restrictions on the importation of the flower inducing nitrates to the inability of government to address pests problems which greatly reduced mango production,” Pinol said.

The department has decided to come up with a clear plan to address the problems and set a five-year roadmap to improve the mango industry.

Meanwhile, the stakeholders’ forum is slated next month in Davao, Cebu and Pangasinan and will be attended by farmers, contractors and processors.

For the first quarter of 2017, production of mango decreased eight percent to 107,830 MT amid incident of capsid bug and cecid fly in Zambales that resulted to poor quality of fruits and premature fruit drops.

Ilocos region produced 60,000 MT, comprising 56 percent of total mango production. Central Luzon and Western Visayas came next with 18 percent and six percent, respectively.

Carabao mango made up 82 percent of the country’s total mango production.