The Mango Processing Facility and Marketing subproject is being eyed to be a huge contribution in the government’s effort in solving the problem on mango oversupply in Puerto Princesa City.
The Tagumpay Agrarian Auto Savings Multi-Purpose Cooperative (TAAS MPC), the subproject’s proponent organization, was created a few years ago with the assistance of the Department of Agrarian Reform. Now, the cooperative is attached to the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP).
The processing facility is currently being constructed in Sitio Tagumpay, Brgy. Inagawan Sub which is strategically surrounded by mango growers in nearby plantations in the neighboring barangays of Luzviminda, Mangingisda and Isaub. This will enable these mango growers and farmer members to easily bring their produce and sell it to the cooperative.
The oversupply of mango in Palawan is mainly attributed to the presence of the mango pulp weevil. This small pest infecting mango fruits was first discovered in the 1980s in Southern Palawan and have caused the province-wide ban on the export of fresh mango fruits to prevent its spread to the other parts of the country. This greatly affected the income of farmers in the province, particularly in Puerto Princesa where more than one million hectares are planted with mangoes.
With the completion of the facility, TAAS MPC plans to utilize the oversupply of mango through the production of mango by-products, primarily dried mango and mango nectar. One of its goals is to make its own version of a dried mango product that can be a signature food item of Puerto Princesa. This will be distributed to local retailers and souvenir shops which mainly sell to tourists aside from the local consumers.
At present, the TAAS-MPC, with the assistance of the City Agriculture Office, is prioritizing the training of its members who will be responsible for the processing of mangoes. These members so far have attended trainings conducted by the Department of Science and Technology.
The enterprise, as expressed by the cooperative, aims to adopt new technologies to improve its strategies in meeting its targets and objectives of increasing the income of and improving the socio-economic situation of mango growers.
The Mango Processing Facility and Marketing is a subproject under the enterprise development component of the PRDP which was developed as part of the commodity prioritization of Puerto Princesa City. It the first intervention under PRDP to be approved for the mango industry of the city.
