The Philippines is inundated by 10 million mangoes. Now, the country has to figure out what to do with them.
The Philippines is overwhelmed by an excess of about 2 million kilos of mangoes because of a dry spell in the region. That is about 10 million individual mangoes with the average mango weighing 200 grams, one-fifth of a kilo. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel "Manny" Pinol announced Monday that measures will be laid out to address the issue.
The bounty of mangoes happened only in Luzon. It's one of the largest and most populated of the Philippines islands, which consists of more than 7,000 islands, according to Britannica.
Pinol explained on Facebook that the surplus has occurred because of "a bumper harvest of mango following the long dry spell caused by El Niño which precipitated profuse flowering and fruiting this season."
The agriculture secretary shared plans of the campaign called "Metro Mango" which aims to reduce the excess of mangoes before they rot, including a drop in price of the fruit. "Starting today, fresh mangoes will be sold from P20 to P50 per kilo, depending on the quality in the following place," Pinol wrote.
Pinol added: "The Metro Mango Marketing Program ... aims to sell at least 1 million kilos of fresh mangoes in Metro Manila during the month of June."