Through the joint efforts of Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee R. Marcos, entrepreneur Ricardo “Carding” Tolentino, and the Provincial Millennium Development Goals Office, Ilocano farmers are addressing the possible spreading and infestation of cecid flies through “Task Force Kurikong” established last week.
Tolentino, hailed as the province’s “Mango King” and twice recognized by the Department of Agriculture as “Agri-Pinoy Entrepreneur of the Year,” said during a recent trip to Manila to sell his produce, he noticed a shipment also coming from Northern Luzon was showing signs of damage from cecid flies or “kurikong.”
Soon after, Tolentino was told that someone from the same area had been selling infested mangoes in Ilocos Norte markets. The province produced 20-million kilos of mangos in 2016, he said.
“I was alarmed, so I called Governor Imee to ask how we could control this,” the mango farmer explained. He said he had been able to contact the seller himself and instructed him not to bring more bad mangoes into the province.
However, reports from Batac City, Currimao, Nueva Era, Banna, and Dingras also showed mangos with signs of “kurikong” damage, hence the creation of the task force.
Tolentino initially met with 30 people, mostly town and city presidents of the Ilocos Norte Federation of Mango Producers Association Inc., to educate them on how to stop the reproduction and spreading of the cecid flies.
“We told them to pick up all mangoes that fall from the trees because they already have worms, and they spread more when on the ground,” he said. “Once they gather the bad mangos, they should burn them. Burying them only causes the cecid worms to multiply.”
As an additional precautionary measure, the task force will meet with more members next week for training in fruit bagging, another strategy in preventing cecid fly infestation.
“If the flies attack just one plantation, they can affect all fruits growing there,” said Tolentino in elaborating the severity of the problem.
“Farmers have already lost much to (typhoon) ‘Lawin,’” he added, referring to the storm that hit Northern Luzon last October. “Adding to our problems, aside from the felled trees, were the leaf flushing after the typhoon.”
Tolentino estimates that 40 percent of the province’s mango trees underwent flushing, leaving just over half of the trees to continue with regular fruitage.
“It’s sad that a lot of our agricultural products were ruined by the storm, but I know we can recover if we all help each other,” said Marcos as she assured her constituents during her 2016 State of the Province, a week after “Lawin” had left the country
“Resiliency is also defined by early recovery,” Marcos added as she distributed seeds, 40-day-old chicks, livestock, sacks of calcium nitrate, and other forms of assistance shortly after delivering her SOPA.
