Marcos town in Ilocos Norte eyes mango processing plant revival

File photo of Mango King Carding Tolentino showing the Ilocos mangoes.

By Leilanie G. Adriano

Staff reporter

MARCOS, Ilocos Norte—The local chief executive of this town plans to revive a mango processing plant here as he tries to encourage more investors to take advantage of the favorable economic activity in this northern part of Luzon.

Marcos Mayor Arsenio Agustin said they had already sought the help of the national government and the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) to assess the facility and to estimate amount needed to revive the mango processing plant here located at the Marcos Agro-industrial school.

In 2007, then Ilocos Norte governor now Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. led the inauguration of the said building under the watch of the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA).

According to Mr. Agustin, they plan to expand mango plantations in Marcos town by encouraging more farmers to plant mango seedlings and make this high value fruit as the municipality’s one town-one product.

To spur economic development in the Ilocos region, it may be recalled that a group of Filipino investors from Hawaii established a multi-million mango processing plant in Barangay Sulbec, Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte in early 2006 but this did not last long due to lack of available raw materials for export.

The Pasuquin-based mango processing plant has a capacity of 10 tons in a 24-hour operation, catering to an estimated 250 hectares of full-grown mango plantations in the province. Products from the processing plant include mango puree, sweetened candies and others, exported mainly in Hawaii as well as other parts of the country.

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