A collaboration between Australia and the Philippines is focusing on strategies to reduce fruit fly infestation and improve the yield and quality of “Carabao” mangoes. The project, “Development of area-wide management approaches for fruit flies in mango for Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, and the Asia-Pacific region” is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. Project sites are in Samal Island, Davao del Norte and Davao City.
The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology serves as the Philippine counterpart of ACIAR in monitoring the project.
Among the major contributors to the result is the recommended fruit bagging material used by the farmer cooperators, which provided visible differences in the fruit quality, compared to the use of imported newspapers, PCAARRD said.
