With a low supply of durian and other fruits, and an estimated 50,000 tourists to arrive for the Kadayawan celebration, the City Agriculture Office is planning to source out fruits from neighboring provinces. (Kenneth Paul Senarillos / davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — “Not as abundant as before.”
This was how the City Agriculture Office (CAO) described the upcoming celebration of the 37th Kadayawan Festival compared to the previous years in terms of the supply of fruits and flowers.
Edgardo Haspe, CAO officer-in-charge, attributed the insufficient harvest to the unusual weather patterns which affected the supposed schedule of production.
“Due to climate change, we don’t have enough harvest especially for durian,” Haspe said during the I-Speak Media Forum Friday, July 29.
He explained that durian trees did not bear much fruits in time for the Kadayawan season. The same case happened to rambutan and mangosteen, which made its peak harvest last June instead of the expected season this month of August. He explained that the harvests started from February to June as the city experienced the summer earlier than expected.
Davao City produces around 12,000 metric tons (MT) of durian annually. It had a slight increase in 2019 with 15,485 MT harvest, in 2020 with over 17,000 MT, and in 2021 with 12,930 MT. However, for the first half of 2022, only about 3,000 MT of durian were harvested.
“And we now expect not less than five metric tons of Durian this coming August, in time for our Kadayawan celebration,” Haspe said.
The supply he mentioned will come from the areas of Toril, Sibulan, Catigan, Marilog, Baguio, and Calinan.
With a low supply of durian and other fruits, and an estimated 50,000 tourists to arrive for the Kadayawan celebration, CAO said there is a need to meet the demands. The office is planning to source out fruits from neighboring provinces like North Cotabato, especially in the areas of Kidapawan and Makilala.
Haspe said the city can also offer its cacao products to tourists, being the cacao capital of the country, as well as bananas that are in demand in the international market.
CAO, meanwhile, has not presented reports on the orchid production but said they have observed a decrease in supply at the market. (davaotoday.com)
