Harvest drop expected as mango growers battle cecid flies

SAN CARLOS CITY — Mango growers are battling cecid flies which attacked 20 percent of mango trees in 86 villages here, an agriculture official said.

The top mango producer in Pangasinan province, San Carlos, produced 23,500 metric tons (MT) of mangoes in 2012 but production may not reach 20,000 MT when the mango season ends in March because of the infestation, said Sharon Ramento, high value crop coordinator here.

Growers have so far produced 15,306 MT, she said.

Unattractive

Cecid flies lay their eggs on the fruit surface and young mango leaves. Their larvae burrow and consume mango fruits. Young fruits fall while mature ones acquire black circular marks, which are unattractive to consumers. The marks are why growers call the pest “kurikong.”

Ramento said mango prices remain stable, with 20 kilograms of mangoes selling for P1,200 to P1,500.

But the pests have hurt this city’s mango contractors who stand to lose millions of pesos in capital.

Ramento said about 40 to 50 percent of the mango trees financed by the contractors have been infested. “Mango growers in our city only have at the most 50 mango trees to tend. But contractors have invested in thousands of trees,” she said.

Leading producer

In 2005, Pangasinan was the country’s leading mango producer, supplying 43.5 percent of the total mango production. Growers in the province produce the carabao variety, which is said to be the world’s sweetest.

Among the province’s top mango producers are Malasiqui, Pozorrubio, Mangatarem, Umingan, Bayambang, Villasis and Bugallon towns and Urdaneta City.

But production had been dropping since 2012 when cecid flies first infested mangoes here. At that time, the province produced 192,663.54 MT, about 38 percent of the country’s total mango production. —GABRIEL CARDINOZA