Producing export carabao mangoes from dwarf trees

Big market oppor-tunities for mango farmers devoting their plantations to the production of carabao mangoes from dwarf trees have been cited by industrial consultants of a foreign funding agency.
Senior industrial adviser Tetsuo Inooka of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said the future is bright for Philippine mango farmers who devote their time and effort to the improvement in the productivity and quality of carabao mangoes from dwarf trees. Carabao mangoes are called that because they are larger than most other varieties.
“If mango farmers of the Davao region can unite as one strong group, the industry can solve most of its problems in production and growing good quality carabao mangoes from dwarf trees. It is a good move to consider,” Inooka said.
The JICA industrial adviser said the global market for Philippine mangoes in Japan, US, Europe and elsewhere worldwide is big and has not yet been fully tapped due to to the low production in terms of volume of this exotic fresh fruit.
Inooka cited the efforts made by agricultural scientists at the Southern Philippines Agriculture Management and Science Technology (SPAMAST) in Davao del Sur, in figuring out ways to boost the productivity of mango trees and recommending the “dwarfing” of the trees to make it easier for farmers to fight pests through spraying, bag the fruits and harvest them.
A project to set up pilot farms for mango tree dwarfing in Davao del Sur submitted by SPAMAST scientists Eddie Batoctoy and Nila Nanette Revilla was recently approved  by JICA under the Davao Industry Cluster Capacity Enhancement Project (DICCEP), a project of JICA and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
“It’s good to have a demonstration farm to show our mango farmers how to use the technique of dwarfing the trees to grow better quality carabao mango in bigger quantities,” Batoctoy said.
SPAMAST technicians these past weeks have been identifying the mango plantations and the mango farmers that will participate in this pilot project.
Mango trees to be set up for dwarfing have also been identified along with a list of things to do by the farmer in dwarfing selected trees on his farm.
“We’re going to monitor these pilot farms very closely to make sure the farmers follow our recommended techniques to make the dwarf trees productive,” Batoctoy said.
Department of Agriculture (DA) technical director Romulo Palcon said the setting up of demonstration farms in one particular area where farmers grow a common crop is the best way to teach farmers the best agricultural practices.
“If you show them how to do it in a demonstration farm and they can see the good results with their own eyes, for sure these farmers will follow your recommendations and you will see better quality and more production of that crop,” Palcon said.