A mango industry leader in Pangasinan province last week stated that unless cecid flies were wiped out soon, mango production in all of Luzon would continue to plummet and the industry would be headed for collapse. Mango production this season had dropped by at least 70 percent because of widespread infestation of cecid flies, leading to huge losses for mango growers and contractors, said Lito Arenas, former president of the Federation of Mango Growers and Handlers Association of Pangasinan. And according to Arenas, the flies have invaded more provinces. He said 10 percent of mango trees had been attacked by the flies in Ilocos Norte province, which has not been plagued by the pest since 2013. The mango-producing provinces of Zambales, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bataan and Nueva Ecija had also been affected. In 2016 the Ilocos region, the country’s top mango producer, supplied 26 percent of the country’s total mango production. It was followed by Zamboanga Peninsula, which contributed 14 percent; Central Visayas, 7.4 percent; and Central Luzon, 7.2 percent. Source - http://www.freshplaza.com