Super-typhoon Lawin charged through the Ilocos region last week and among those hit hardest by the strong winds are the sweet mangoes supposedly due for harvest next month.
Ricardo Tolentino, popularly known as Ilocos Norte’s mango king reported that members of the mango growers association were totally devastated, seeing their mango trees swayed by strong winds, fallen branches and some were even uprooted at the height of the typhoon.
A state of calamity has been declared in Ilocos Norte due to losses estimated to have reached over a billion pesos in agriculture and infrastructure.
The Ilocos region, which includes the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan, is one of the country’s major exporters of quality mangoes to Hong Kong, Japan and other neighboring Southeast Asian nations.
According to Tolentino, the estimated damages could account to more than P100 million as most of the growers heavily invested this year on power spray and in rehabilitation of their mango fruit bearing trees.
As a high value commercial crop in the province, the provincial government continue to provide funding support in the form of fertilizer subsidy and training for mango growers to rehabilitate mango fruit plantations here.
Since 2012, mango farms have been suffering from low yield due to erratic weather patterns.
Source - http://www.freshplaza.com
