Developing A Hybrid Carabao Mango Variety (NU6-3 by Verman T. Reyes)

Developing A Hybrid Carabao Mango Variety NU6-3 by Verman T. Reyes Carabao mango is our number one mango variety in the Philippines. It is considered as the sweetest mango in the world according to Guiness Book of Records. At present, it is one of our top fruit exports along with Pineapple and Bananas. The value of fresh and dried mango export in 2012 was $58 million from $92 million last 2011. (http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/309300/economy/business/resilient-mango-weathers-storms-costs-and-prices) One of the reasons of the drop in value in exports is because of so many factors. One of these factors is climate change, the weather is erratic because of global warming. Other factors are high production cost and low buying price. But the most important factor that we mostly don't know is that carabao mangoes has an inferior mango production characteristic like it fruits naturally every 2 years, the tree grows very big, the fruit has short shelf life because of thin skin, and is not disease resistant. The best quality the our mango can really boast is its taste.(http://hvcdp.da.gov.ph/mango.htm) Because of the decline of production of carabao mango fruits, the goverment yearly disperses 1 million grafted carabao mango seedlings to farmers to fight the bottleneck in production but I feel that as long as our variety has problems in terms of production, a lot of farmers will be disappointed and will stop producing if they won't make a profit consistently. So what should we do to encourage farmers to plant? I think we should develop a new mango variety using Carabao mango as one of the parents to be crossed to other varieties to develop a hybrid carabao mango. We should retain the taste but improve overall production characteristics including the color of the fruit. What are the superior characteristics of a perfect mango: 1. Dwarf characteristic - mango variety should be low growing so that you can plant more in an orchard. Usually 5 meters by 5 meters is an ideal spacing in planting mangoes so that you can maximize space. 2. Voluntary fruiting - mango variety should fruit naturally every year and twice or thrice a season. Our mangoes are artificially induced to flower and fruit every year thus making production costly because of high cost of inputs. 3. Thick skin - mango should have thick skin for longer shelf life and better transportation handling. 4. Red blush - mango should have a colorful skin and most preferred color for the export market is having a red blush. The red blush reminds consumer of an apple when they buy red blushed mango varieties. 5. Size and taste - preferred mango sizes and weight is in the large to extra large size and weight an average of 400-500 grams. Taste should exactly be like our carabao mango which has a sweet and tart taste combination. How do we hybridize our Carabao mango with another superior mango? 1. Chance pollination - enclose the two mango varieties in a net then put bees to pollinate when both mango trees flower. After they develop fruits, harvest the seeds to be planted for evaluation to look for good varieties that we want. There is 50/50 chance of success of getting a new variety. 2. Artificial pollination - we need to hire an expert pollinator that will cross the male parent mango to a female parent mango. Then when the mango trees develop fruit, the seeds are planted for evaluation of superior varieties. There is 80-90% chance to get a new varieties. 3. We use "Sweet Elena" carabao mango cultivar, which is one of the best carabao mango cultivar that originated in Zambales as the parent mango to be crossed with red blushing mango varieties like Sensation and Irwin mango varieties from Florida. In Australia, they used sensation mango to cross with their main mamgo variety, bowen mango to create a hybrid mango code named B74 and branded it as Calypso Mango. (www.calypsomango.com.au/) 4. We need to disperse and promote the new mango hybrid to farmers and growers for commercial production. 5. Usually to develop a new hybrid fruit, it takes 10-15 years due to evaluation of superior varieties. But now, it is possible to evaluate in just 3-5 years by topworking on old mango trees. 6. We need to brand the new mango variety. Business Aspect 1. You can make profit by selling grafted planting materials of the new hybrid mango to goverment or private individuals. You can have a joint venture with commercial farming companies. If government disperses 1 million grafted mango planting materials to farmers every year and priced at P45 pesos then that is already P45,000,000 million pesos gross revenue every year. (P45 pesos is the usual bid price for goverment purchase order of fruit trees depending on size) 2. Contract growing can be another business aspect of developing a new hybrid mango for commercial scale. You sell planting materials to farmers at the same time buy their fruit production. 3. Another aspect of the business is patenting the new mango variety then license the brand or variety. Economic Benefits 1. If more farmers plant the new mango variety then it should create more jobs. 2. More profit because of less inputs and fruiting twice or thrice a season meaning you double or triple your profit a year. 3. Increase growth in the export market because of superior mango variety characteristics 4. More markets means more companies will be established to trade the new mango variety 5. Reduce poverty incident in the agriculture industry 6. Create agriculture tourism base on the new mango variety like promoting the variety to foreign tourists. Social/Environmental benefits 1. Can be grown organically thus lessening the use of chemical pesticides and fungicides. So farm workers will not have contact on chemical properties lessening the incident of health related problems on farm workers. 2. Since the production cost is more cheaper and easier, then price of mangoes are lower and could can be afforded by less fortunate people especially in our country. 3. Mango is not only delicious but also healthy for our body. We could alleviate malnutrition by planting the new mango variety and eaten by even the most remote places in our country. Recommendation I recommend that we develop a hybrid carabao mango variety. Other countries are competing with our mango by developing or using other mango varieties that are suited in their country. Like any business, if we don't innovate, we will be left behind. It is also an opportunity that we are nearing the Asean integration in 2015. We could market our new mango to asean countries like China whose population likes mango very much. They just don't buy 1 or 2 piece mangoes when they are in the supermarkets but buy them in bunches. This project is feasible but needs support from goverment and private organizations. Our country needs dual mango varieties so that we could have aletrnative variety when one variety is not productive every year. Trivia Did you know that our carabao mango has been been crossed with a florida mango variety called haden mango. The variety is named "Edwards" mango variety and was was discovered in the 1930's in Florida. And is considered as the best tasting mango in Florida by mango connosiuers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_(mango))  4