Philippines: Tripling yields, placing mangoes on world market year-round

For his many contributions that have had unprecedented impact on agriculture, Dr. Ramon C. Barba, now 72, was awarded the 2011 Umali Award by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) last Wednesday in Los Baños. The plant scientist from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) is the first Filipino to receive the award and the third recipient in Southeast Asia. The $10,000-award, given to outstanding Southeast Asian scientists, is named after the late National Scientist Dioscoro L. Umali, a founding Director of SEARCA and former Assistant Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Foremost among Barba’s researches was a breakthrough discovery in 1974 of mango flower induction by potassium nitrate, making it possible for fruits to be available all year round.

The use of potassium nitrate is low-cost and benefits both farmers and consumers: flower production is profuse and fruit production can be programmed according to market demands. "Although Dr. Barba holds a patent for this technology, he has foregone royalties due him so that mango farmers can use it without additional cost," the award observed. "Dr. Barba is known to perceive simple solutions to complex problems and produce results with minimum resources," the citation noted. "His research on induced mango flowering was a private initiative that cost less than P500 to complete." His achievements include banana micropropagation and sugarcane and calamansi tissue culture; all have impact on the agribusiness potentials of these crops in the world market.

Read full article at source: FreshPlaza.com

New Mango Resources Added to Pomology Magazine

The Fruit Magazine Pomology.org has newly included the category Mango to its collection of crops. This section comprises resources to the most cultivated fruit in the tropics. Pomology is the science and technology of cultivating and producing fruits and within this discipline, Pomology.org provides a wide range of resources related to temperate, subtropical and tropical fruits.

The Mango section within the Fruit Crops category of Pomology.org covers aspects of production of mangoes including cultivation, pests and diseases, harvest, postharvest, storage and marketing. It currently contains 76 resources including a popular website on "South Florida Tropicals: Mango" published by the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS). The page features background, availability, selection, storage, uses, nutritive value, food safety during preparation, preservation and uses of mango. Another webpage authored by the same institution covers one of the most important pests in mango, the mango fruit fly Ceratitis cosyra. The Extension Entomology & UH-CTAHR Integrated Pest Management Program of the University of Hawaii publishes a webpage on mango which provides many more details on the cultivation of mangoes including varietal selection, propagation, soil types, cultural practices, fertilization, and harvest and postharvest. The Mango section of Pomology.org also features a reference to a study on "The Expression of Alternative Oxidase and Uncoupling Protein during Fruit Ripening in Mango" published in the Science Journal "Plant Physiology".

Read full press release here: New Mango Resources Added to Pomology Magazine

Contract farming harming mango production

Mohammad Hussain Khan
Wednesday, 24 Jun, 2009 09:23 PM PST

(Photo: A vendor displays his mangoes at a market in Rawalpindi — APP/File photo.)

HYDERABAD: The atmosphere is suffocating. The stench in the vegetable and fruit market is overpowering, but Ali Sher has to move fast amidst scorching heat, wiping sweat from his face. Looking completely exhausted, he is busy earning whatever he can before the current mango season comes to an end.

Thanks to its excellent flavour, the mango is rightly called the king of fruits. There are allegedly over a hundred varieties of mangoes, but only two are widely recognised — those from India and Pakistan and those from Southeast Asia.

Mangoes have been cultivated in many a country, but nowhere is it as ubiquitous as in the sub-continent; Hyderabad’s fruit market serves as the main outlet from where mangoes from Sindh are dispatched up-country by road and train.

Sindh produces a number of high-quality mangoes, with Sindhri remaining the most popular variety. Prices of unripe Sindhri mangoes this year vary from around Rs1,300 to Rs1,500 per 160 kg bag — showing a marked increase from last year, when prices ranged from Rs1300 to Rs1400.

Mango commission agents claimed that demand this year remains high, and will likely rise further as the season draws to a close. Last year, Sindhri was sold till June 5, but this year it is still widely available.

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Coming soon: Mangoes, bananas that last longer

The National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow, is working to develop transgenic varieties of mangoes and bananas that will take longer than usual to ripen. The aim is to increase the shelf life of these fruits and, thus, cut down on their wastage during transportation.

“India produces 45 million tonnes of fruits every year but 30 to 50 per cent is lost to post-harvest deterioration.

NBRI is researching how to delay fruit ripening and, in the process, produce transgenic varieties of mangoes and bananas with a longer shelf life,” said Dr Aniruddha Sane, one of the four scientists engaged in the research work.

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Coming soon: Mangoes, bananas that last longer

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