Thursday, April 26, 2007 Mango producers appeal for post-harvest facilities
MANGO producers in Davao Region urged the government to put up post harvest facilities after Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Arthur Yap announced earlier that it has available funds to support the farmers’ needs.
Mango producer Ednar Dayanghirang, who is also the president of the Davao Region Mango Contractors Association (Daremca), said the proposal was among the items they tackled during the First Mango Producers Conference held Tuesday in Davao City.
Dayanghirang said they will ask DA to assist them in coming up with a packing plant and hot water treatment plant which he estimated would only cost about P3 million.
"This is just a small portion that we want to access from the P3 billion fund earmarked by DA to fund agri projects," he said.
He said such facility is a much-needed structure in the region, especially to small mango farm growers.
The conference attended by over 400 mango producers aired concerns of accessing to past host facilities although advocacy on good agricultural practices had continuously expounded to members of mango associations of different provinces.
"We are into clustering the area so that it could be a common facility for several mango farm producers," he said.
He said this is one way of improving the product before it is shipped to markets locally and internationally.
He said markets like China would require hot water treatment for mango to enter their market.
China, he said, is one market they are targeting for export.
Meanwhile Dayanghirang said that with the consolidation of mango producers in Mindanao they will strongly work for exporting mango to Asian countries.
Based on a trial shipment to Guanzong, China the shipment of one refer van from Davao would reach the market within eight days for a cost of P11 per kilo.
He said it appears cheaper if they ship mango to China than to Manila that would cost them P17 through air cargo.
He said these are options that the association is studying to save them from excessive loses especially when there is oversupply in the market because their Manila buyers will not be around to buy their produce.
