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IBA, Zambales — While tourism stakeholders in Zambales prepare for the annual Dinamulag Mango Festival, the provincial government is preoccupied in improving production to sustain the local mango industry.
Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said on Monday the provincial government's flagship program to revitalize the Zambales mango industry is now on its second phase, setting the rehabilitation and rejuvenation of some 20,800 mango trees in the province at a cost of P40 million.
This four-year phase, from 2025 to 2028, comprises the bulk of the P50-million Zambales Mango Green Valley Project launched last year to increase mango production yield, encourage farm owners and contractors to adopt modern farm technologies, and promote good agricultural practices for long-term sustainability and profitability.
BIG BOOST Domingo Mariano (right), technical working group head for the Zambales Mango Industry Council, confers with Samahan ng Magmamangga ng Zambales president Enrico Batungbacal (left) during a recent visit at the Batungbacal Farms in Palauig, Zambales. PHOTO BY MAHATMA RANDY DATU
Ebdane said that after Phase 1, which established modern mango production areas to serve as demo farms for modern mango production technology, Phase 2 now focuses on rehabilitating existing carabao mango trees through improved farm management, fertilization and irrigation techniques.
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A key component in this stage, the governor said, is capacity-building and training, which shall be undertaken in collaboration with the President Ramon Magsaysay State University and the Samahan ng Magmamangga ng Zambales (SMZ).
Ebdane said that efforts to improve production are crucial to the local industry because, while Zambales is known for producing the tastiest mango fruits in the country, the province produces only 2.3 tons of mangoes per hectare, which is way below the national average of 12 tons per hectare.
"We're now aiming for 12 tons, too," the governor said. "This is the more important, and more difficult, part of sustaining the mango industry because we have to exponentially increase quantity without sacrificing quality to make local mangoes more competitive."
Ebdane said that while product promotion has been going on in decades with the annual mango festival, it was only last year under the Zambales Mango Green Valley Project that serious product development through modern production techniques started under a provincewide program.
Domingo Mariano, who heads the technical working group for the Zambales Mango Industry Council, said three pilot areas were established to introduce new production technology to local growers.
Last December, the provincial government released P6.4 million to the SMZ under a conditional assistance program to set the collaboration project in motion, Mariano said.
SMZ president Enrico Batungbacal said the cash assistance was used for pre-spray clearing, flower induction, chemical application, fruit bagging, irrigation and fertilization, security and harvesting at the pilot farms.
The provincial government, through the Provincial Agriculture Office, will also initiate Phase 3 of the project next year to propagate scions and seedlings of the Sweet Elena variety from Santa Cruz, Zambales. This variety was named in 1995 by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's sweetest.
Ebdane said that under Phase 3, a mango training center and a postharvest processing facility are being established under a usufruct agreement with the Region 3 Mango Stakeholders Association Inc. These facilities, awarded under the Department of Agriculture's High Value Crops Development Program, will enhance mango farming education, improve postharvest handling and elevate production standards in Zambales.
"The Mango Green Valley Project will be a continuing program, and already, we are considering a marketing component that will include branding, product exportation, as well as greenhouse cultivation," Ebdane said.
"We will be constantly refining and updating this program as we go along," he added.
