THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is currently focused on increasing volume production of mango in Mindanao as a means to support revival of mango industry nationwide.
On Wednesday, August 2, a Mango Summit was conducted at the Royal Mandaya Hotel, Davao City which was attended by more than 600 mango stakeholders coming from the different regions in Mindanao.
“During the forum, the establishment of a Mango Roadmap for the next five years was discussed in order to rejuvenate and revitalize our mango industry. Another forum will also be held in Luzon and Visayas within this month,” Ricardo Oñate, DA-Davao regional director, said.
This plan of reviving the industry, Oñate said, is reflective of a production decline of mangoes nationwide from 5.35 million metric tons to 4.33 million metric tons nationwide between 2006 to 2016 brought about by the different weather conditions and diseases.
In Davao Region, there is a 2.89 percent decrease for mango production from 54,336 metric tons in 2015 to only 52,765 metric tons only last year. Most of the mangoes were produced from Davao del Sur with 41,975 metric tons in 2015, decreasing to only 40,654.35 in 2016.
He said part of the roadmap will be the best practices to be planned and agreed on by DA and the local government units of each region to adapt in order to benefit small mango farmers.
The roadmap also includes proper fertilization appropriate for the mango plantations as well as marketing strategy whether or not mangoes are more profitable to be sold fresh, processed, or both.
Within the 10-year span, the hectarage of mango plantation in the entire country had increased from 171,000 hectares to 187 hectares. With this data, Oñate said DA will specifically monitor existing plantations in Guimaras and Samal for Davao Region.