The Department of Agriculture in Davao Region (DA-XI) and the Davao City Agriculture Office launched Wednesday (May 29) the Durian 500 Project to meet the huge demand in the China market.
The project aims to expand durian production up to 500 hectares for the three years in Baguio District, Davao City that is the leading durian production area not only in the city but also in the region.
“It is about time to expand durian production in Davao Region since for the past years the production area, as well as the volume of produce, did not increase despite the fruit’s continuing and increasing demand in the local and expert market,” said Melani Provido, DA-XI’s High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) Coordinator.
Provido along with Baguio District Agricultural Officer James Danac conceptualized the Durian 500 Project to revitalize local production and address the growing demand both in local and export markets.
“Under this expansion program, DA-HVCDP XI will be providing at least 50,000 seedlings. The preferred variety for expansion since it is competitive in terms of quality and acceptability in the export market,” Provido added
Danac for his part said, Baguio District is one of the highly suitable areas for durian expansion considering its climate and rich volcanic soil and most farmers are observing the good agricultural practices in durian production.
“It is also strategically located as the area is accessible to buyers and processors,” he said adding that planted it would take at least four to five years for durian to bear fruit.
According to the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics database in 2016, Thailand was the world’s leading exporter of fresh durian, with 402,661 metric tons worth US$495 million. Among them, 303,430 metric tons of durian worth US$394 million were exported to China.
Larry Miculob, president of the Davao Durian Industry Development Council that while Philippines has already started importing durian to China, local producers cannot cope with its huge demand.
Data from the DA-HVCDP shows that the total area planted to durian is only 16,672 hectares and more than half of which is in the Davao Region. Of the total production volume of 66,457MT, 80 percent of which or 51,818MT are sourced from the region.
He said while ASEAN countries like Thailand and Malaysia are major producers, our production season complements the off-season in these countries making the demand stable.
“One Chinese trader alone required 200 container van per month but our local industry can only produce 400 container van of which we cannot totally supply as we have regular local buyers to satisfy,” Miculob said.
He said that the total demand for expansion is 1,000 hectares but he is optimistic that with the 500-hectare expansion, the local durian industry could already take advantage with the growing export demand.
“I urge durian farmer to develop the habit of harvesting only matured fruits to be consistent with the required quality of our existing and would be markets,” he said. | Noel T. Provido, DA-XI
