Pinoys urged to buy local fruits for New Year

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture is calling on Filipinos to patronize and buy local fruits as part of the annual tradition of preparing round fruits during the New Year to bring good luck and prosperity.

Most Filipinos prefer to buy imported fruits like apples, oranges, and grapes to decorate their dinner table on New Year’s Eve.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said buying local fruits would achieve the twin goals of increasing farmers’ incomes and supporting the development and commercialization of the local fruit industry.

“Let us promote and take pride in our local fruits. Let us give the tradition a deeper meaning by nurturing our agricultural sector,” Dar said.

“There are local fruits that can adorn our tables and they are as nutritious and cheaper than imported ones,” he added.

For instance, instead of imported oranges, consumers can buy perante, satsuma, or Vizcaya ponkan, which are grown in Nueva Vizcaya.

There are also local grapes from La Union, as well as citrus fruits from Central Luzon and Bukidnon.

“Buying Pinoy fruits will indeed increase the incomes of farmers and their families who are into fruit orchard production,” Dar said.

Other popular Pinoy fruits include melon, watermelon, lanzones, chico pomelo, rambutan, mangosteen, sineguelas, tiesa, guava, atis, duhat, santol, dalandan, aratiles, bignay, mabolo, papaya, avocado, and fresh coconut, among other fruits.

For non-traditional consumers, there are round varieties of langka, pineapple, mango, macopa, durian, balimbing and dragonfruit that can be bought from farmers.

Also, there are indigenous fruits like anang, sapote, yambo, sapinit, katmon, kalumpit, lipote, binukaw, or paratungon that are often overlooked, not because they are not as delicious and as nutritious as their imported ones, but because most Filipinos are unfamiliar with them.