LINGAYEN — Mango producers are facing a somewhat tatty Christmas as about 5,000 mango trees already bearing fruitlets, or the initial fruit stage, were heavily damaged by typhoon Paeng which hit Pangasinan and other parts of northern and central Luzon last Monday.

Provincial Agriculturist Jose Almendares told The PUNCH these mango fruitlets were intended for harvesting during the so called monsoon in December, a time when mango fruits are sold at a high price.

The affected mango trees are found mostly in Urdaneta City and the towns of Villasis, Malasiqui and Sta. Barbara.

Almendares said the mango producers spent around P3,000 per mango tree for forced fruit inducing.

Mangoes harvested during monsoon fetch as much as P80 per kilogram. These are sold green and are not meant to be ripened because of high moisture content combined with very low ethylene, a substance that allows the fruit to turn yellow which is an indication of the ripened stage.

Almendares said the affected farmers will have to wait another three months and turn to traditional fruiting or flower inducing to recover their lost investment. However, some farmers, he added, insist on forced fruit inducing.

About 80 percent of the trees bear fruits without inducing, while the remaining 20 percent are done by forced fruit inducing.

Those who induce the flowering of their mango trees, said Almendares, are considered as the risk-takers who make good when no typhoon strikes.

There are about 200,000 mango trees in Pangasinan that are in the fruit-bearing stage. Mangoes in the province are touted as sweet, especially the carabao mangoes produced in San Carlos City and in the hilly areas of western Pangasinan.

In a related development, a report from the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council showed typhoon Paeng destroyed close to 3,000 hectares of rice, 50 hectares of corn, and 450 hectares of assorted vegetables. –EVA

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