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Cebu mangoes are dying from over-spraying

     Tended by profit-hungry growers and contractors, the trees are often sprayed with potassium nitrate, which induces flowering. "Some contractors are so abusive that they spray the tree again a few days after harvest," said Jerry Valerio, regional coordinator of the Fertilizer and Pesticide 
Authority (FPA).

     The tree eventually suffers from stress because of the lack of time to rest in between harvests and spraying. Compounded with the the long-term effects of moisture stress, soil erosion and the failure to regularly fertilize the soil, many trees fail to grow new leaves. Eventually the tree loses its old leaves and dies.

     "I have seen a lot of mango trees that have only twigs for branches, "said Marina Viniegas, a mango specialist at the Department of Agriculture (DA - Region VII).

     "Ideally, a tree does not die," said Viniegas, stressing that the older mango tree is, the more productive it is. "A lot of mango contractors have gone to Mindanao because the trees here are no longer as productive as they used to be."

     Depending on its age, a health mango tree can bear from 50 to 5,000 fruits per harvest. Although a mango tree normally bear fruit more frequently with the  use of flowering inducers. Over-eager mango growers however force trees to bloom twice a year.

     Although the DA and the FPA cannot estimate the number of trees affected, the problem was deemed serious enough for the FPA to require all mango contractors to secure a license from  hereon.