GUIMARAS, October 21, 2024 – The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) Philippines Country Director Ibrahim Katirci, joined by the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Program Western Visayas, met with local mango producers and processors in Guimaras to explore potential development projects for the mango industry in the said province.

Following TIKA’s meeting with SAAD National Program Management Office (NPMO) Director Ulysses J. Lustria Jr., and officials from BFAR SAAD National Program Management Support Office (NPMSO) respectively, the agency also included in its plan to visit the Guimaras Mango Growers and Producers Development Cooperative (GMGPDC) and specific sites in the island province to evaluate the eligibility of the areas for possible funding support.

Mr. Katirci also paid a visit to the Provincial Office for Agricultural Services (POAS) headed by Provincial Agriculturist Alvin L. Nava, and Guimaras National Crop Research Development and Production Support Center led by Mr. Rhod Orquia, to discuss areas for collaboration with regard to enhancing and boosting the production of mango.

Among the sites visited were the GMGPDC, Trappist Monastic Products (Jordan), and McNester Food Products (Buenavista) who are engaging in mango production and processing. Their products include dried mango, mango piaya, barquillo de mangga, mango achara, drink concentrates and puree, ketchup, butterscotch, mango hopia, mango pizza, among others.

Touted as the sweetest in the world, Guimaras mangoes are the province’s tourism centerpiece and granted the Geographical Indication (GI) by the Intellectual Property of the Philippines for the mangoes’ reputation. Thus, one of the visitation highlights was the engagement of Mr. Katirci with local farmers to not just identify opportunities for development, but also to examine various mango by-products that will allow the agency to assess one’s capacity to provide support on its production and processing, including packaging and product labels. 

When asked about their next steps, Mr. Katirci shared, “Today, we will visit and talk with the producers and processors to know their priorities and out of these, we will analyze and assess if the projects would benefit our partners. Like for the Research Center, they told us that they need a drone. We’ll look into it and see its feasibility since we want to provide the first in kind.” 

Mr. Ernie Rosendo Villanueva, Agricultural Program Coordinating Officer of Guimaras, is confident that the said visitation will act as a springboard for partnerships in the region to reach those areas in need of additional agricultural support. Moreover, a potential provision of processing equipment to the said groups was tackled, which will help the community in their production of mango by-products, and ultimately contribute to the improvement of their livelihood and of the province’s vision of becoming the region’s agri-tourism capital.

Joining the field visitation was TIKA Project Officer Kyle Christian Manejero, SAAD Area Coordinator Bryan Capunong, and SAAD Information Officer Cedie Bataga. 

Moving forward, the SAAD Program will consolidate the project proposals from the groups and facilitate the submission of these, including the necessary attachments, to TIKA for their approval and funding. ###

Writer: Cedie C. Bataga, SAAD Western Visayas Information Officer