DAVAO City - “There is money in pummelo,” according to Nelson Sepe, marketing manager for PiTrade, TADECO’s marketing arm in this city. “However, a lot of threats face the company in terms of marketing,” he added.

The entry of China pummelo, which is prevalent throughout the year especially in Christmas season, remains a big threat to small- and large-scale pummelo growers in Mindanao.

Sepe shared that the company invests about P180,000 on production costs per hectare to get the best outcomes. This

amount covers labor, pest and fertilizer management, irrigation, and technologies, among others.

Nenita Farm of TADECO in Panabo City, Davao del Norte owns and manages 200 ha of pummelo plantation. Like PiTrade, it assiduously maintains high standards in its quality control program.

On the other hand, the Dizon farm in Barangay Acacia in Cabantian City is devastated by the infestation of the citrus rind borer (CRB) and citrus canker infection. Mr. Lee Busiguen, Dizon Farm caretaker, revealed that the high cost of pesticides and fertilizers is forcing the owners to choose between CRB-infested but sweet pummelos or semi-sweet CRB-free fruits. CRB-infected fruits have unsightly lumps on the rind, reducing farm gate prices. Although Davao locals will prefer sweet fruits despite the external appearance of lumps, infested fruits will have lower prices in general and Manila-bound shipments cannot command high prices.

The cases of Mindanao’s pummelo growers were gathered by 13 regional researchers and experts during a two-day field tour of various pummelo farms in the Davao Region last July 3-4. The visits were an offshoot of consultations and collaboration with industry growers and experts during a Pummelo Stakeholders’ Forum on April 3 with PCARRD Executive Director Patricio Faylon and the Southern Mindanao Agriculture Resources Research and Development Consortium. One of the outputs/priority of the forum was the development of niche package of technology (POT) within the framework of Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) for adoption of orchard owners.

Dr. Irvin C. Generalao, University of South Eastern Philippines (USeP) vice president for research and development headed the tour, along with Dr. Lourdes C. Generalao, USeP Research and SMARRDEC director. USeP’s Dr. Carlito Edullantes, Prof. Raymundo Guariño, Prof. Editha Pangan, and Cecirly Gonzales; and Regional Technical Working Group representative of the Bureau of Plant Industry-Davao National Crop Research and Development Center Concepcion Soguilon and Fe Pableo comprised the team.

USeP, as the lead agency for the packaging of pummelo proposals for the region’s Science and Technology Agenda, held a series of consultations to prepare an integrated approach to address the problems in the region. Thus, the team validated field reports of the conditions of selected commercial pummelo farms in the region. Observations and various interviews were carried to confirm in detail the cumulative information produced during the forum, with topics ranging from best rootstocks, methods of propagation, pests and diseases management and control, farm prices against retail prices, production cost problems, quality control, and the future in local markets of the Davao pummelo competing with imported China pummelos.

The group also visited Magsasaka-Siyentista Rodrigo Cabico. According to Cabico, the high cost of production inputs remains a big concern in growing pummelo. (Editha Pañgan/ K. Nodalo - SMARRDEC)