Is ARMM fast becoming the mango capital of Southern Mindanao?

COTABATO CITY — Big tracts of land in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have been planted to mangoes in the past five years by farmers, many of whom were secessionist guerrillas who are now into large-scale propagation of exportable mangoes.

The ARMM’s agriculture secretary, Sajid Druz Ali, said that compared to other regions in the South, the autonomous region now has much bigger areas planted to mangoes and is fast becoming the mango capital of Southern Mindanao.

Druz Ali also said that farmers in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur have been propagating other exotic fruit trees, aware of their market value in the local and foreign markets.

Druz Ali’s information and special concerns assistant, Ike Paguital, said the ARMM now has more than 100,000 hectares of mango farms.

"Thanks to the fragile peace we now have in the ARMM, farmers, many of them Moro rebels, can now peacefully till their lands and plant mangoes and other exotic fruits," Druz Ali said.

Among the farmers actively involved in the propagation of fruit trees are members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Camp Abubakar, the MILF’s former bastion at the tri-boundaries of Buldon, Barira and Matanog, all in the first district of Maguindanao.

Druz Ali, who assumed his post on Oct. 1, said the main concern now of the ARMM’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) is how to organize farmers into big farming organizations so that they can have a good marketing representation abroad.

"One way of promoting peace in the region is improving the productivity of farmers. If farmers will have good income, they will not carry firearms to fight the government. They will be empowered and, would have a strong voice that can be heard by the government," Druz Ali said. — John Unson