(MANILA BULLETIN)

The Senate Agriculture and Food Committee chaired by Senator Cynthia Villar has assured anew to assist the mango industry, which she said produces the “best tasting mangoes” in the world. Speaking during the AANI Mango Industry Association Inc. two-day 19th National Mango Festival that started on May 19, Villar guaranteed she would push for its development and promotion. The festival with the theme- “Creating a Growth Strategies for the Mango Industry” - aims to promote the productivity, marketability and the viability of the Philippine national fruit. According to Villar, mango is important in the Philippines because it is the second most-used fruit (28.2 percent) after banana (29.4 percent) in the world. Aside from the challenges being faced by the industry, Villar acknowledged that the mango industry is composed of small farmers that aren't in organized plantation farms like the banana and pineapple industries. While the Philippines ranks 10th in mango production in the world, she said the Philippine mango variety ‘Carabao,’ known in the international market as “Manila Super Mango”,  is acclaimed as one of the best varieties globally. “But the industry is faced with declining yield and quality attributed to pests and diseases, poor nutrient and water management, low adoption of improved technologies, and high post harvest losses,” she noted. Villar related that other  industry problems include difficulty in farm operations, high cost of production due to inefficient pesticide application. “It is important that mango owners have a good grasp of orchard management such that the mango tree to produce good fruits with proper pruning, fertilizer and sprayed, to avoid pests and diseases, and irrigated,” she further stated. By adopting good agricultural practices, the veteran lawmaker emphasized that the farmers could produce higher yields of good quality fruits at a lower cost. “Now I heard that the biggest problem is the management of mango twig borer (MTB) and cecid fly or “kurikong”, two of the most serious insect pests of mango,” Villar said. However, she’s optimistic that with the meeting of mango practitioners and the support of government through the High Value Crops Development Program of the Department of Agriculture (DA), she believes the gathering of stakeholders in the mango industry  would produce very good and workable solutions to their problems.