DA allots P10M for mango farmers’ group

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) has allotted P10 million for this year to support the initiatives of a national mango farmers’ group.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said the P10 million funding will finance the major projects of the Philippine Mango Industry Foundation Inc. (PMIFI) which includes planting of recommended mango seedlings, provision of postharvest equipment and facilities, marketing assistance, and capacity-building.

The DA through its High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) provided the funding to PMIFI president Virginia de la Fuente, through a memorandum of agreement, signed during the 15th National Mango Zambales.

Formed in 2001, the PMIFI is composed of more than 1,000 farmer-members nationwide, belonging to 15 mango growers’ associations.

The DA also provided P5 million worth of farm equipment and farm inputs that included 50 power sprayers, 10 knapsack sprayers, 200 bags of flower-inducers, 10,000 mango seedlings, and 10 draft carabao with implements.

The DA-HVCDP also provided Zambales farmers with 50,000 mango seedlings.

Alcala urged mango farmers to consider integrating other income-generating projects in their plantations  like apiculture, and raising poultry, goats and sheep.

HVCDP national program coordinator Jennifer Remoquillo said the DA aims to strengthen the country’s mango industry by providing interventions to attain major targets under the mango commodity road map. These include increasing production and exports of fresh and processed mangoes by five percent annually, and per capita consumption from 8.5 kilograms to 11.5 kilograms.

Last year, the country produced 767,851 metric tons (MT) of mangoes.