PRICES for durian and other fruits for Kadayawan Festival is expected to be much expensive this year as compared to last year due to limited supply brought about by excess rain, said Durian Industry Council of Davao City (DICDC) head.
According to DICDC Chairman Larry Miculob, what the fruit vendors said about limited supplies of durian and other fruits for Kadayawan is true. Due to abnormal rainfall, which was still experienced even on March and April of this year, most of the durian flowers fell off the trees and were not able to flourish further into fruits.
Miculob said Davao City was able to produce 180 metric tons of durian for the last week of August to November season. This year, he said, they are expecting only around 120 metric tons of durian to be produced.
“Based on the current price of durian at P120 to P200 per kilo, it may go down to P60 to P100 per kilo,” he said adding that last year’s price was only around P40 to P50 per kilo.
“For the other fruits, prices may not go down below P60 due to limited supply,” he added.
He said when the Philippines was hit by El Niño last year, recovery came in the form of excessive rain even during the summer season causing too much new leaves sprouting of the trees but not much fruit yields.
Miculob said there will still be fruits displayed and sold for Kadayawan although majority of these will not be coming from Davao City but Kidapawan or Davao del Norte.
He said other fruits including pomelo, lanzones, and rambutan will be coming from North Cotabato.
“Now, we are maintaining sprays in farms against fungus. We also do massive pruning. Now, branches are a little heavier because of the leaves. Actually, we should also control fertilizer use because it may thicken the leaves too much, makes branches heavier. Sometimes the branches just snap off even without the fruits,” Miculob said.