The Department of Agriculture in the Philippines is hoping to increase mango exports by 20 percent to $52.8 million next year.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the DA is moving to expand shipments in traditional markets such as the US while negotiating with new buyers from Australia, Taiwan and Chile.

“We are working out the terms of trade, such as the inclusion of other source areas aside from Guimaras, the use of fumigation methods such as the vapor heat treatment (VHT), quarantine treatment and the use of Rapiscan x-rays to detect mango pulp weevil,” said Yap.

From January to August this year, the country exported 54.5 million kilos of mango, with Japan as the biggest buyer.

The Philippines is the world’s eighth largest exporter of fresh mangoes. Its biggest markets are Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Belgium.

Mango Product Exporters Conferedation Inc. president Roberto Amores said next year’s prospects are better as exporters settled quarantine issues with China.

Yap said local producers should build on their advantages over other mango-exporting countries. These include the proximity to trading countries; its carabao mango, which is the sweetest in the world; and its advanced production and processing technologies.

Data shows that the value of mango production in the first three quarters of 2004 reached P15 billion, a 10.3 per cent increase from the previous year’s earnings of P13.6 billion. Total mango production stood at 920,910 metric tons.

The top regional producers are Ilocos, with 424,89mt; Central Luzon, with 90,988mt and Calabarzon, with 83,815mt. As of last year, the number of

fruit-bearing trees around the country totaled 6.89 million. Production for the whole of 2004 is forecast at a record 1.2 million metric tonnes.

Yap estimated that mango growers earn an average gross income of more than P100,000 per hectare, or a net income of P70,000 per hectare.

In the next six years, the DA aims to develop more than 130,000 hectares of new mango farms, with 17,644 hectares earmarked in 2005, Yap said. Next year’s

expansions will be mostly in Mindanao, particularly in Regions XI and XII, but mango hectarage will also be widened in Regions IV-A and VII.

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