by Felix Daray, published in Agriculture Magazine,Manila Bulletin, March 2009
San Roque is a remote barangay in Digos City. Corn was the staple, food in this town in the 1940s, and then in 1970, some farmers started to plant sugarcane as their main crop. But since the price of sugar fluctuated, they shifted to mango production, which has been booming up to now due to the high demand of both export and local markets.
About 75 percent of the mangoes produced in Digos City came from San Roque, hence it is dubbed as the “mango country of Digos City.” More and more farmers are venturing in mango growing because they earn twice of their income from sugarcane. I am one of them. Like my neighbors, I planted my 2-hectare lot to grafted “Mango Cebu”, a sweet and juicy variety.
But the first farmer in San Roque who has succeeded in mango production is Arnold Nebria. He started as a tenant, and with his net profit, he bought agricultural lands and planted these to mangoes. Today, he grosses an average of P1 million every harvest. Another successful farmer is Victoriano Ramos. In September 2008, this 70-year-old farmer and councilman of San Roque has earned almost a million pesos from mangoes.
That’s how profitable mango growing could be. Yet, a capital of P80,000 is needed to start a 1-hectare mango farm, and the harvest, of course, depends on how well the production has gone through.
Regarding production, it is ideal to spray for flowering when the leaves of the latest buds matured. The buds usually mature after nine months. Spraying can be done earlier if the chemicals used are for hastening the maturity of the leaves. Insecticides and fungicides are sprayed at the same time since most of these are compatible with the fertilizer.
To control sucking insects, wrap the fruits with newspapers at 65-70 days. The fruits are ready for harvest after 105-110 days from the first day of spraying for flowering.
Based on my sampling, a 10-year-old mango tree will bear an average of 500 kilos of fruits. So in 1 ha with an average of 70 trees, 35,000 kilos of mangoes could be harvested. If a kilo sells at P20, a gross income of P700,000 could be earned from 1 ha in one harvest or P1.4 million in a year.
The fruits also undergo quality control. The biggest fruits without spots and rusts are mark as, first class and are exported to Hong Kong and China. Second class fruits or those which are of medium size are shipped to Manila, while the third class are sold in the local market.
The biggest problem in mango production, however, is successive and excessive rain during pollination stage. Pollen grains are washed out and thus, few fruits are developed. At this point, the price of mango drops to as low as P10 if there is no export. Farmers can only break even if the price is at least P15 per kilo, but that, of course, still depends on the supply and demand.
On the other hand, this shouldn’t discourage farmers from venturing in mango production. Remember, says Benito Ayop, another successful mango producer in San Roque, “Farming is like gambling. Although you spend and work hard, sometimes you win or lose. Don’t stop and think positive that you will recover next harvest.”
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