Imperiled local mango industry

“If you believe Philippine mangoes are the best in the world, you’d better first taste Vietnamese mangoes.” This statement, coming from a Filipino journalist who had just been to Vietnam, would sound unpatriotic. After all, for decades, Filipinos have always sworn Philippine mangoes to be so much better than even those marketed Manila mangoes that are exported to the US.

Whoever has heard of Vietnam mangoes? Apparently, Vietnam now has a booming trade for both domestic and international markets. In 2019, the country celebrated its first export of mangoes to the US after 10 years of negotiations and discussions.

The Australian government, through the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), had just concluded a four-year project last year aimed at finding solutions to Vietnam’s mango trade issues, and which are now benefiting many of its small farm growers.

In 2018, the ACIAR-supported project mapped out Vietnam’s mango supply chains from the farm to the market, and thereafter introduced interventions that tackled farm problems such as small volumes, high production costs, and process inefficiencies.

Among the practical measures adopted to address the problems were the introduction of good management practices (GMP) and improved technologies, which helped mango farmers increase their income by 17 percent through better product grading that would pave the way for a higher selling price.

Sap-burn and hot water treatments were taught to make the fruit look better and last longer. Mangoes that have little or no blemishes command higher prices in the market, and extending the shelf life allows the farmers to assure supermarkets that the produce remains sale-able for a longer time.

Declining local production

While Vietnam’s mango export value is on the rise, the Philippines’ local production, as well as export of fresh mangoes, has been on a steady decline since about a decade ago. Aside from high production costs, mainly attributed to increased pesticide prices, insect pests like Cecid flies often attack Philippine mangoes.

Some other reasons cited for the declining mango production are the excessive use of flower-inducing chemicals, the overuse of fertilizers, and inappropriate pruning and fruit bagging practices. All these represents added costs that have translated to lower income for farmers.

Flower inducing techniques have been around since the 1970s, but the technique heavily involves the use of chemicals like potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, or sodium nitrate to make mangoes flower and fruit year round. Before flower inducers are introduced, a growth inhibitor chemical is first sprayed to control flowering. All these interventions make Philippine mango growing heavily dependent on chemical inputs.

While Vietnamese farmers have been known to shift to mangoes away from other crops, our farmers are moving to other agricultural produce instead of looking at new ways of cutting down on costs and improving earnings from mangoes.

Local mango producers, majority of them having an average of only 10 to 12 trees, have been at the mercy of contractors who provide spraying services and manage the fruiting of the trees, but which often involve terms that are unprofitable to both parties.

Same outstanding problems

Ever since it became vogue for the Department of Agriculture (DA) to come up with industry road maps, mango growers, as well as institutions with interest or a stake in the country’s mango industry, have cooperated with the government’s directive to map out issues and come up with solutions.

In the latest industry roadmap iteration for 2021 to 2025, many of the problems aired in the previous version continued to be outstanding though. Poor performance continued to be apparent in cold chain management, packaging, and pre-export sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) treatments.

No wonder then that the only marked changes reflected in the recent roadmap was in the competitive landscape for mango exportation of both fruit and processed product forms, where the Philippines’ position is now being seriously threatened by new entrants like Vietnam.

As had been earlier commented by our friend who was in Vietnam recently, not only is the Philippine mangoes’ sweetness challenged, but also texture and processing. Don’t be surprised if those prized pasalubong to foreigner friends abroad of dried mangoes will no longer a source of personal pride.

Soon, not just our dried mangoes will lose market share, but also processed mango products like jams and juices. Vietnam’s mango pickles, I am told, carry that distinct Vietnamese flavor that is better appreciated than in other parts of the world.

Dysfunctional R&D

Looking at how Thailand, and now Vietnam, is positioning its processed mango exports, one of the biggest problems emerging with regards Philippine-made mango products is its dysfunction research and development (R&D).

The above-mentioned ASEAN countries, and even Mexico whose mangoes are inferior in sweetness and texture to ours, have well-functioning R&D networks that continuously develop new technologies and products that are disseminated quickly to mango farmers through their extension services.

In the Philippines, R&D dissemination relies on local governments who often do not give mango growing and processing the necessary support. Even the packaging of processed mango products often looks shabby and inferior compared to those sold by other countries.

The Philippines may be ahead in developing new processed products through the National Mango Research and Development Center (NMRDC), which fortunately are of good quality and have bright prospects if introduced well in the international market, but getting them out of the R&D stage to commercialization remains a big challenge.

Our mango growing industry is imperiled, and if the government does not act quickly, the country could find itself deluged by mango imports in the not too distant future.

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