热博体育

Dr. Emile Faye, Dr. Julien Sarron (热博体育, HortSys), researchers at the 热博体育’s (HortSys), and Prof. Pr. Calixto "Chito" M. Protacio, researcher at UPLB, carried out a mission on ‘Carabao’ mango value chain and agriculture innovation, on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. This mission was an opportunity to meet various stakeholders in the mango industry (farmers, orchard owners, spray-contractors, exporters, researchers and national institutions), to understand their constraints and problems related to climate change. This work partakes in the Technical Assistance to the Philippines supported by the French Development Bank () on climate-resilient and climate-smart agriculture. This Technical Assistance is linked to the Policy Based Loan for the Philippines on “Climate Change Action Program” () by the AFD and the Asian Development Bank (), regarding agriculture and fishery sector.

Interviews with growers, orchard owners, and contractors provided an understanding of the structure of the mango value chain in the Philippines. Downstream stakeholder issues were also identified. The Philippine mango industry suffers from low yields per hectare, partly due to the ageing of ‘carabao’ plantations, and severe cecid fly damage. The cecid fly and anthracnose are responsible for significant damage to fruit production, making much of it unfit for export. Currently, there is no other way to control the pest than bagging the fruits and applying chemicals, which generate high production costs. When this is added to other inputs, such as flowering induction, quality mango production becomes unsustainable for growers. 热博体育 and UPLB could consider new production alternatives to control cecid fly and increase mango yields.

The second objective of this mission was to present 热博体育's PixFruit® expertise to stakeholders in the mango sector in order to assess their interest for such a digital support solution. This expertise enables the development of a co-constructed digital solution for estimating production variables (yield, surface area, fruit quality and size) of fruit crops prior to harvest. The mission team was able to take the pulse of the mango sector with regard to this type of tool and assess the interest of the stakeholders. For example, this kind of tool could be used by the industry to estimate the color and size of ‘Carabao’ mangoes at harvest. This joint mission by 热博体育 and UPLB should enable new projects to be set up to improve mango production in the Philippines.