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The Department of Agriculture (DA) has cited the strong partnership
between Government and local fruit growers and processors in
meeting global phytosanitary standards to further expand the
Philippines' share in the huge global market for mangoes, bananas,
pineapples and other high-value commercial crops (HVCCs).
In a recent national gathering of fruit growers, Agriculture
Secretary Arthur Yap said that as a result of recent breakthroughs
achieved by the Philippines in meeting global phytosanitary requirements,
the DA expects fruit growers this year to surpass their combined
earnings from exports in 2006, which amounted to more than $700
million.
These breakthroughs, he said, include the accreditation of four
establishments in Manila that will provide extended hot water
dip (EHWD) treatment services for mangoes bound for China and
the signing last July of the Framework Equivalency Work Plan
(FEWP) between the DA's Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and American
authorities that will pave the way for the export of irradiated
Philippine fruits and vegetables to the United States.
The DA is also stepping up efforts to meet stringent phytosanitary
requirements in exporting mangoes from Davao del Sur and Luzon
to the US, Australia and other countries through extensive field
surveys and studies conducted with foreign assistance, said Yap
in a speech read for him by Ginintuang Masaganang Ani-HVCC program
national coordinator Rene Rafael Espino, during the 15th National
Fruit Symposium at the Bureau of Soil and Water Management (BSWM)
in Quezon City.
Through the BPI, he said the DA has also been conducting a survey
funded by the US Department of Agriculture in 16 mango-producing
provinces in the Visayas, which will be completed next year.
A similar survey funded by Australia was also done in Sarangani,
he said.
After Visayas, the USDA survey will cover 27 other provinces
in Mindanao, he added.
"All of these efforts are expected to further boost our
mango exports, which last year amounted to more than $46 million,
of which $24 million was in the form of fresh mangoes,"
Yap said.
Yap added that, "We continue to pursue initiatives and
provide technical and logistics assistance to enable our fruit
growers, processors and exporters to comply with global phytosanitary
standards, and thus tap huge export potentials."
These include, he said, support services for small farmers like
such as the distribution of virus-free planting materials, credit,
post-harvest and marketing assistance, and the construction of
packinghouses; participation in international trade missions
and food exhibitions; improving transport of farm goods through
the roll-on, roll-off nautical highway system; and tapping bagsakan
or drop-off centers and barangay food terminals or BFTs to help
fruit growers sell their produce.
For bananas, the GMA-HVCC Program is targeting a 7.99% growth
of 7.345 million metric tons in 2007 from 6.801 million MT last
year.
Mango production, on the other hand, is projected to grow 7.10%
this year to 984,135 MT from 918,877 MT in 2006, but its expansion
rate would shoot up to 12.49% to 1.033 million MT with proper
interventions in place.
For pineapples, the DA is projecting production to reach 1.925
million MT in 2007, up by 5% from 1.834 million MT in 2006.
The DA's aggressive efforts to strengthen existing export markets
and tap new ones for Philippine fruits and other agricultural
products is in step with its five-pronged program to sustain
and accelerate farm growth and to raise rural incomes by making
farming much more profitable for its small stakeholders.
This five-point program covers higher public spending on (1)
infrastructure, (2) research and development (R&D) and extension
services, and (3) postharvest and storage facilities; and (4)
expanding access to rural credit, and (5) opening new markets
here and overseas for Philippine agro-fishery products. ###
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