Philippine mango production drops by 7.8%
In its quarterly report, titled “Major Fruit Crops Quarterly Bulletin”, the PSA said mango production in the January-to-March period declined by 7.8 percent to 107,830 metric tons (MT), from 117,000 MT recorded a year ago.
“The incidence of capsid bug and cecid fly in Zambales resulted in poor quality of fruits and premature fruit drops and a decrease in yields in Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan was due to rainshowers during flowering,” the report read.
The PSA noted that the Ilocos was the top mango-producing region during the quarter, accounting for 55.6 percent of total output during the period. However, production in the region dropped by 3.6 percent to 59,990 MT, from 62,205 MT a year ago.
“This decline in output was caused by the following factors: the decrease in the number of bearing trees in Quezon due to Typhoon Nina in December 2016; and the drop in yield in Batangas due to the effect of fruit flies during flowering, and in Davao del Norte due to damage by heavy rains during the flowering and fruiting stages,” the report added.
source: businessmirror.com.ph
