ILOILO City – Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, proposed the establishment of a “mango school” in the island province of Guimaras.
Guimaras is known to grow sweet mangoes and exports these.
A mango school that teaches how to plant and grow mangoes well, and even how to market them, can further improve Guimaras’ mango industry, said Villar.
Villar was the keynote speaker at the opening on Thursday of the three-day 20th National Mango Congress hosted by Guimaras.
If realized, she said, a mango school in Guimaras would be the first in the Philippines.
Villar said she would ask the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) – an agency under the Department of Agriculture – to send representatives to Guimaras and explore the possibility of setting up a mango school.
ATI is responsible for training agricultural extension workers and their clientele; conducting multi-level training programs to promote and accelerate rural development; and ensuring that research results are communicated to the farmers through appropriate training and extension activities.
Villar noted that the National Mango Research and Development Center is in Guimaras.
“The results of its researches can be taught to the students of the school or to anyone who wants to grow mangoes,” she said.
Noting further that Guimaras hosts 12 farm schools, Villar suggested that at least one could specialize in the teaching of mango cultivation.
While Guimaras’ mango industry is thriving well, the senator said, it could further grow.
Of the 650,000 hectares of agricultural land in the province, only 300,000 are growing mangoes, she said.
“So there are still a lot of opportunities. But we have to teach people how to grow mangoes well, and what better way to do this than through a mango school,” said Villar.
Guimaras governor Samuel Gumarin welcomed Villar’s proposal.
“It is an innovation we would like to pursue as we strive to improve our mango industry,” he said./PN
