Organic mango, anyone?

The Paulo Farm in Sta. Ignacia, Camiling, Tarlac had been growing carabao mangoes since 1986 using chemical fertilizers. It harvested during on-season or by summer along with other farms. Therefore, its products were priced similarly as those of other farms.

Last November, it harvested organic mangoes for the first time during the off season period from November until March, which is why it enjoyed better prices for its produce. It sold high at P1,000 (instead of just P800 during on season) per crate precisely because it was off season.

Paulo Farms owner Dr. Ester Mercado did not even sell her produce on the basis of its being organically grown and treated, which could have fetched her better prices but this was because she was not quite sure there was a market for organic mangoes.

Only recently, Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. said the Philippines must produce organic mangoes, otherwise it would lose the lucrative Japanese market, which is now shying away from chemical residues produced by chemical fertilizes and pesticides.

Europe and the United States are also turning heavily to organic farm products because of researches showing the ill effects of chemical residues to human health, particularly in causing cancer.

Dr. Mercado, who is also dean of the Institue of Agriculture and Forestry, College of the Tarlac College of Agriculture (TCA), sprayed on the mango roots and flowers Exquisite BD (a beneficial plant bacterium made in China) bio fertilizer and soil conditioner, which made the plant resistant to insects and made the leaves and flowers sturdy.

"Flowers and fruits treated with Exquisite were more resistant to pest and diseases considering the very low volume of off season mangoes produced in Tarlac last year due to intermittent rains during the period," Mercado said.

The number of fruits per bunch that the Mercados harvested last November was 10 as against the regular on-season harvest of carabao mango bunch of six to eight, she added.,

Fruits have smooth and unblemished skin and were much sweeter than on-season regular carabao mangoes. "When tested for sweetness, our mangoes recorded at 17.5 brix as against the usual carabao mango sweetness of 13.2 brix. The entire fruit ripens evenly–while chemically treated fruits are ripe on one side and sour on the other. Another advantage of organic mango is the longer shelf life under normal room condition while chemically treated mangoes go through different types of treatment to prolong their shelf life," she said.

Inorganic mango farming forces flower induction and fruiting that deplete the trees of nutrients thereby weakening them which weakens the trees. This requires providing the trees with more nutrients through fertilization, oftentimes with chemical fertilizers.

The stressed tree can be rejuvenated and restored to their productive stages with Exquisite BD

"Treated trees produced more fruits and the fruits were bigger and sweeter without the fibrous irritation on the throat. Flowers and fruits treated with Exquisite were also more resistant to pest and diseases.

"The rains caused the flowers of many farms from Pampanga, Tarlac and as far as Pangasinan to fall but my farm did not have a single flower or fruit falling during the monsoon," Dr. Mercado said.

Having finished her harvest, Dr. Mercado is now spraying again her trees with soil conditioners and the leaves with bio fertilizer. The bacteria enables the natural soil nutrients to develop and nourish the plant, explained Chong Ken Foo, group chairman of Exquisite Focus Phils Inc. and the sole distributor of BD in the Philippines.

The TCA got acquainted with Exquisite after Chong participated in on agri fair three years ago and demonstrated his product to the staff. It was tried on patches of sitao that were dying and due for uprooting, which recovered in a week. Then it was tested on bananas, eggplant and other crops planted in the school.

Chong is participating on Aug.24-25 at the Mango Congress in Cagayan de Oro City – where he can explain his product to the commercial growers; and again in the agri fair of Bicol on Aug.28 to Sept. 2, 2005.