Monday, September 08, 2008 Jica bullish on Minda mango output By Aurelio A. Pena Contributor
BRIGHT prospects for bigger exports of Philippine mangoes from the southern island of Mindanao are expected in the next few years once mango growers are united under a strong, robust industry cluster, according to a Japanese industry expert.
Tetsuo Inooka, chief advisor for industrial development of Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), said the volume and quality of fresh mangoes from the southern island could rise to meet global standards and meet surging world demand for the tropical fruit.
"All it takes is a deep commitment and dedication from each grower to work towards a common strong vision and clear goals to make this industry grow," Inooka told industry participants of the Davao Industry Cluster Capacity Enhancement Program (Diccep), a three-year project jointly sponsored by the region's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Jica.
Covering an area of 56,000 hectares planted to mango in seven provinces, the island of Mindanao supplies about 30 percent of the total yearly export volume of Philippine mangoes. Export-quality mangoes harvested in Mindanao come from some 800 growers in South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, North Cotabato and Misamis Oriental.
Japan is the biggest market for mangoes coming from Mindanao mango plantations. Last year, the southern island shipped 1,092 metric tons of high-grade fresh mangoes valued at US$2.7 million direct to Japan, according to data from the National Statistics Office (NSO).
The island's biggest growth was registered in 2006-2007 when the total volume of fresh mango exports surged to nearly 47 percent while the value of mango exports doubled from US$1.8 million to US$3.6 million during the same period.
Rising problems bugging the entire Philippine mango industry, however, are affecting the combined mango production of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Philippine mango exporters are expecting a shortage of 40 percent on fresh mango exports and 30 percent on processed mangoes this year due to natural disasters wrought by two strong typhoons Cosme and Frank that battered many mango farms in central and northern parts of the country during the last few months, according to industry sources.
But Mindanao mango growers are unfazed by these two strong typhoons since the island is virtually typhoon-free. "Mindanao growers can still produce a lot of mangoes from July to December after those typhoons hit Luzon and the Visayan regions. That's our advantage here in the south," said Antonio Teh, chairman of the Southern Mindanao Mango Industry Council (SMMIC), one of the participants of Diccep's series of lectures and workshops held daily at the Apo View Hotel in Davao.
Lack of financing and rising costs of fertilizers, however, are hurting many Mindanao growers who blamed government and banks for neglecting the needs of the industry, The price of fertilizer, according to Teh, has risen sharply from 30 to 50 percent from last year, ranging from P1,600 to P2,000 pesos a bag, while most banks rejected loan applications of many mango growers in the south.
"It's a double whammy problem for all of us growers and many of us can no longer cope with these problems," Teh said.
Mango production in the island dropped 14.5 percent to 780, 540 metric tons from January to June this year from 912,590 metric tons last year, according to NSO.
Teh blamed the decline on the drought in January, the heavy rains in June and July and the surging cost of fertilizers.
Trade Undersecretary Merly Cruz said all these problems can be met head-on by the industry stakeholders - the growers, local government units, academe, government agencies, etc, who are expected to discuss these problems and come up with an industry business plan for the industry to grow and move forward to solve the problems now bugging the industry.
"Once a strong industry cluster for mango(es) is in place, every stakeholder can work out effective ways to lick all these problems," Cruz said.
