THE PHILIPPINES is positioning Italy as a potential market for its mangoes, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.
The Philippines recently dispatched its first mango shipment to Italy amounting to about half a ton.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said small Filipino business owners in Rome were behind the mango order, sourced from farms in Pangasinan.
“Philippine mango farms already comply with Italy’s strict plant health standards, making this expansion feasible and sustainable,” it said.
Production of mangoes amounted to 90.94 thousand metric tons in the first quarter, the lowest total since 2010.
The DA said the first shipment of mangoes to Italy could “open the door for more investment, from both government and the private sector, to strengthen the competitiveness of Philippine mangoes globally.”
Mangoes have been identified as the flagship of Philippine commodity under the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) One Country One Priority Product initiative, which helps countries in developing green and sustainable value chains for their signature produce.
The DA said it has included mangoes in the FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Investment Initiative, which matches donor and development support with national agricultural plans. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza