Taking a big bite of juicy mango mart

Eat, plant and sell more.

This is the magic formula for world mango supremacy, according to a Department of Agriculture (DA) roadmap.

The target is to increase mango production to two million metric tons by 2020, increase exports by 15 percent yearly up to 2010 and 10 percent thereafter up to 2020.

The aim is to develop 130,000 hectares of new mango farms by 2010 to increase production throughout the country.

And hopefully increase consumption for every Filipino from 11 kilos to 16 kilos a year.

Mango producers should take advantage of the fact that they can now export fresh mangoes from anywhere in the Philippines – except Palawan – to Guam and Hawaii, says Francisco Ramos, head of the DA Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Services.

To sell more, the DA wants to increase imports to Japan from 7,000 MT of fresh mangoes last year to 12,000 in the next three years. Other promising markets are South Korea and China.

“We continue to validate the target including suggested revisions to make our mango roadmap truly doable and viable,” said Ramos, citing the Mango Industry Roadmap 2005-2010.

Now may be the best time. Due to adverse climate, mango production in India will be 20 percent below average in 2007-08.

With 1.96 million hectares in plantations, India is the largest producer of mango in the world. Its annual production of 12 million tons is about half of the 24 million tons the world produces.

Though India accounts for over 40 percent of global output, its share in mango exports is tiny – just 69,606 tons in 2005-06.

The US banned mangoes from India 18 years ago over concerns that Indian farmers used too much pesticides, including the banned ones. Last year, Indian mangoes were exported to Japan for the first time after a ban of 20 years because of fruit fly infestation.

The US mango market – now dominated by Mexican varieties – is about 250,000 tons.

In Davao, the DA wants to expand mango farms by 4,530 hectares more. The rest of Mindanao is allotted 4,000 has. while 3,000 has. more are allotted for other regions.

The new mango farms will be concentrated in Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Samal Island and Davao City because of good weather condition all year round.

Last year, Mindanao produced 195,000 tons of mango worth P3.75 billion – 21 percent of the national output of 919,000 metric tons worth P18.7 billion. Davao’s mango harvest is 17 percent of Mindanao’s output – and 3.6 percent of the national production.

According to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, mango production in the Davao region increased by about 10 percent – from 30,560 tons in 2003 (P548.2 million) to 33,510 tons last year (P633.4 million).

The increase is traced to more areas planted to mango, expanding by 6.7 percent from 8,472 hectares in 2003 to 9,038 hectares last year.     – InterNews&Features