Samal mango growers eye Aussie market

DAVAO CITY, Philippines -- The emerging multi-billion mango industry of Island Garden City of Samal is being groomed by the Australian government to become a mango value chain and as a best practice demonstration and vehicle dissemination to other growers in the southern part of the country, it was learned yesterday.

To harmonize this, Pastor Lozada, general manager of the Samal Island Mango Growers Association (SIMAGA) said they are eyeing to penetrate the Australian market especially in months where their country could not supply its own mangoes.

Australia does not have a supply of the said fruit during March to September, said Lozada, who is pinning his motivation to export mangoes to the country on the said period.

Lozada’s group, through the collaboration with Davao del Norte provincial agricultural office, recently visited Australia for a research and development mango study tour.

The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) said on its website that the Australian government has poured AU$60,000 to the project that would benefit Samal Island growers from June 15 to June 30 next year.

Part of the project would tour the growers in Queensland to study technologies used by Australian growers.

The mango industry in Samal Island has emerged into a mult-billion peso industry, with 7,000 hectares of high value fruit planted similar to the sweetest mangoes being produced in the island of Guimaras in the Western Visayas region, city administrator Cleto Gales, Jr. said.

“The island can produce about 10 million kilos of mango annually and could increase for up to 30 million kilos depending on the absorptive capacity of he market,” said Lozada.

SIMAGA has around 3,500 members that takes a cooperative approach to production, marketing and research. Samal mangoes are bought at P20 per kilo at the farm, but would be increased to P100 if their plan to penetrate the Australian market would be successful, said Lozada.

“Laborers could be pulled out from poverty if the price of mango would be multiplied and sold to a new foreign market,” he said.