singapore hotel: Davao planters assure Singapore of steady "durian" supply

Thứ Hai, 5 tháng 8, 2013

Davao planters assure Singapore of steady "durian" supply

Davao planters assure Singapore of steady ‘durian’ supply

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Category: Agri-Commodities

Published on Monday, 05 August 2013 20:06

Written by Manuel T. Cayon

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DAVAO CITY—The Durian Industry Council of Davao City has assured Singaporean traders that durian planters are capable of supplying their minimum volume daily requirement of 1,000 kilograms.

Council Chairman Candelario Miculob said they have also been able to negotiate a price of $1.20 per kilo for the shipment of the produce.

“Durian planters would still set a uniform price at farm gate price level to offset the shipping price, but industry estimates placed the profitability level at P19 per kilo,” said Miculob.

He said, however, that negotiations have yet to be finalized as minor issues need to be ironed out first.

Remelyn Recoter, director of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) regional office, said that durian was mainly sold in the local market, with insignificant volume exported to other Asian countries.

Current production capacity in the Davao region was 4.4 metric tons (MT) per hectare. Recoter said, however, that this pales in comparison with the main durian producer, Thailand, which produces an average of 10 MT per hectare.

She said Davao City remains as the top producer of the fruit. Durian is mainly grown in the Davao region

Recoter said the DA and stakeholders, mainly represented by the durian council, recently laid out a five-year road map to support the export of the fruit. She said government allocated P7.6 million as starting fund to support production, post-harvest facilities and research and documentation.

Melanie Provido, regional coordinator of the high-value crops division of the DA said production of durian is expected to go down after Super Typhoon Pablo destroyed many areas in Compostela Valley, another major durian-producing region in the country.

Compostela Valley has 11,000 hectares planted to durian but recent inventory pegged the current size of durian plantations in the area at only 8,000 has.

Government agriculturists said this may be due to the havoc wreaked by typoon Pablo.

Provido said the road map would also call for expanding areas planted with durian by 10,000 hectares to increase Compostela Valley’s production.