San Carlos City still reigns supreme in mango, bamboo production

By Eva C. Visperas

IT was an unscheduled trip but still our group went to San Carlos City though we feared we might not be able to interview our news sources because it was then already 11:30 when we headed to the city.

Of course, the place is very dear to me for several reasons: I grew up there and studied from elementary to high school. But every time I pass by  the area that I’ve known to be as Central II where I finished my elementary education, I could not help but feel a pinch in my heart because the  school was no longer there. A big shopping mall took its place.

I am always proud of the city I dearly love but I must admit I seldom gather news there. That’s why my former classmates and even their spouses like Brando Garcia who is already based in the US together with wife Arsenia and the whole family, had been requesting me to write something about our city.

Though our timing seemed wrong at first, we were still lucky because the mayor was very happy to see us. You see, it was my first time to interview him in his office.

So here. 

This city keeps its lead as the top mango producer in Pangasinan for the last 15 years and shows its supremacy through the holding of another year of the Mango/Bamboo Festival set this April 29.

Mayor Julian Resuello told local newsmen that San Carlenians have mastered the mango industry and in fact the skilled workers in mango farming including capitalists go to 13 other provinces in the country to propagate their skills to other mango farms.

“We have very sweet mangoes here perhaps due to our soil,” Resuello said. The city is known for its sweet carabao mangoes.

It was during Resuello’s incumbency that the Mango/Bamboo Festival was launched sometime in 2000 to create a wide market for their two famous products which abound here, mangoes and bamboos.

He said that even mangoes produced in other provinces are brought here for classification by their experts through the buying stations. Then, container vans pick them up and then sell them for export.

Domingo Resuello, city agriculturist, said that the city has about 2,200 hectares planted to mangoes. Each hectare yields 14 metric tons of mangoes but each mango tree can have its production only every two years. He said every year only one half of the total mango trees bear fruits, thus their yearly production is estimated at 15,400 metric tons.

He said that in the Ilocos region, Pangasinan is the top mango producer and in the entire province, it is the city that is the leading mango producer.

The city with 86 barangays and about 170,000 populations has about 200,000 mango trees and of this number about 150,000 are already fruit-bearing.

There are about 6,000 families which depend on the industry for their livelihood.

The other popular produce here, bamboos, are plentiful along the city’s 150- kilometer stretch of rivers and creeks.

The dominant bamboo variety here is locally known as “kawayan tuwa” which is the kind used for making nipa huts and other furniture made of bamboo.

There are about 15 barangays which are involved in bamboo industry.

Because of its popularity in bamboo industry, the city has its own bamboo market where produce from bamboo like nipa huts, baskets, lamp shades, furniture, cabinets, among others are on display and traded for three days, from Thursday to Saturday. Traders from other provinces come here to buy the produce and sell these to outside provinces.

But unlike other towns or cities which hold their grandiose festivals, San Carlos’ will just have a modest celebration like the street dancing where the participants are clad in costumes using these two materials among others and through competitions like fastest maker of basket.

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(You can also read this writer’s other stories at http://businessblog.prepys.com.)

 

 

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