BPSU-RDO conducts 3-day skills training on fruit bagging for mango

By Grace Santos, BPSU-RDO

BALANGA CITY, Bataan – The project team of the CHED DARE-TO Mango Production in Bataan, led by Dr. Hermogenes M. Paguia, director of the BPSU Research and Development Office (RDO), spearheaded a three-day training on fruit bagging for mango on March 6-8, 2018 at the model mango farm of Mr. Raul dela Rosa in Brgy. Gugo, Samal, Bataan.

The activity is executed with the goal of providing the 24 farmer cooperators with the opportunity to experience the actual fruit bagging following the usual technique and procedure.

Six skilled baggers all the way from Dumaguete were tapped as trainers through Mr. Manuel Joves, one of the farmer-member of Cluster 1. Aside from cooperators, their farm workers and 15 interested out-of- school youth were also identified to become beneficiaries of the free skills training.

The trainees will now become part of the Bataan Federation of Mango Growers, Exporters and Processors which will serve as the first-ever bagging service provider in Bataan. The group will provide the bagging services not only to the mango model farms in Bataan but soon to the nearby provinces as well.

The formation of mango fruit baggers will finally address the major problem faced by most mango orchards such as pest damages caused by capcid bug and cecid fly as the setback among mango growers in Bataan and other mango producing provinces.

The project team and the farmer cooperators, however, are eyeing to inspire the mango farmers regarding the economic potentials of mango through Science and Technology interventions in Integrated Pest Management.

Moreover, institutionalizing the fruit bagging among mango orchards will guarantee the production of export quality fruits and sustainability of mango sector in Bataan.

All in all, fruit bagging may not only save the mango industry from pest damages but will also essentially offer employment opportunity for out-of- school youth and unemployed individuals in the farming communities most especially in Bataan.

Other members of the project team include Dr. Rina Paguia, Ms. Cherrilyn Ventura and Ms. Janice Baysa as study leaders in Cluster 1, 2 and 4, respectively, with support staff: Ms. Lorna Roldan, Ms. Maricel Javier and Engr. Kristine Ortega. Dr. Rowena Valerio is in-charge of the product development together with two agricultural technicians, Mr. Randy Gaquit and Mr. Roel Morales.

Photos courtesy of Dr. Hermogenes Paguia, Dr. Rina Paguia and Mr. Randy Gaquit