Now in place to enable San Carlos City to realize its goal is a 10-year mango development program (MDP).

The program forms part of the 20-year San Carlos Master Development Plan (SCMDP) crafted by the city government, currently headed by Mayor Eugenio Jose V. Lacson and Vice Mayor Gerardo P. Valmayor Jr.

The SCMDP envisions to convert the city into an agro-industrial center.

A unique feature of the master plan is the active participation of small scale farmers and entrepreneurs living in barangays. While agriculture remains an important component of the plan, it also promotes and emphasizes high-value commercial crops, among them mango.

San Carlos City’s mango program aims "to develop, promote, and sustain the mango industry and elevate San Carlos as a major mango-producing area."

It was prepared by Los Baños scientist Dr. Rafael Cresencia and Joselito Payot of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD).

The two were commissioned by the San Carlos Development Board (SCDB) chaired by Dr. Ramon V. Valmayor to study the prospects of commercially producing mango in the city’s barangays.

The mango program has three groups of beneficiaries: small farm owners, sugarcane planters, and forest reservation dwellers, who actually constitute the majority growers of mango in the city.

San Carlos City has a land area of 45,150 hectares blessed with good agro-climate suitable for mango production. By classification, only 11 percent is considered non-agricultural land, 20 percent are forest covered and the rest are good for agricultural enterprises.

About 8,400 ha of the city’s land with 0-18 percent slope and 12,500 ha with 18-30 percent slope can be used for mango production.

There are at present, 646backyard and commercial mango growers. Some claim steady income, particularly through contract sharing arrangement with buyers from Cebu.

"There is a good indication that farmers would expand production on their own best effort given the appropriate technical and financial support," Dr. Cresencia and Payot said in their report titled "San Carlos Mango Development Program."

The MDP projects to expand the mango areas in the city at the rate of 90 ha. per year. At this rate of expansion, a multi purpose processing plant for mango is expected to be established in the city soon after the tenth year of program implementation. (Edith Colmo)