Davao City, Aug. 2 -In another dramatic display of farmers’ renewed enthusiasm in Philippine Agriculture, Mango Farmers and stakeholders from all over Mindanao filled the Lantawan Hall of the Royal Mandaya Hotel today for the first leg of the national consultative forums to draft a road map for the rehabilitation of the ailing industry..
Mango farmers from as far as the Zamboanga Peninsula travelled for about 10 hours through dangerous routes just to attend the one-day consultation.
Towards noontime, over 600 people were inside the hall designed to accomodate only 300 sitting participants.
The farmers were both excited and emotional as they shared their problems and concerns, especially the grievance that government in the past had not been helpful to the industry.
The production of the Philippine Mango, which is acclaimed as the best tasting in the world, has plummeted from over 1.5-million metric tons in previous years to only a little over 800,000-metric tons last year.
The industry suffered from problems of pest and diseases, the absence of modern farming technology, financing, processing and marketing.
In the morning session which I attended, resource speakers spoke on the technology to make old mango trees productive, farm practices to address cesid insect infestation, lengthening the shelf life of the mango through a waxing technique and marketing.
During my speech, I assured farmers of quick intervention by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries under the High Value Crops Program under Undersecretary Evelyn Laviña.
Mango farmers agreed with my proposal to identify a model farm in every province which would serve as a learning center for modern farming techniques.
It was another emotional engagement for me after a number of farmers with tears in their eyes thanked President Rody Duterte for the initiatives of his administration in the area of agriculture.
(Photos by Dianne Faith Garcia)
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