BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya–For the first time in many years, one of the province’s mountain towns, dubbed as the region’s citrus capital, won’t have an annual citrus festival this year, or every month of August, amid its huge drop in production.
This after the long dry spell and still uncontrolled pests and diseases afflicting the plants in citrus-growing Kasibu town, especially its Malabing Valley resulted not only in an extremely low harvest but in poor quality and stunted fruits as well.
According to Kasibu town Mayor Alberto Bumolo Jr., such produce have resulted in poor sales, bringing many citrus farmers in the area to the brink of bankruptcy.
“There is no reason for the people to celebrate this year, due to the poor quantity and quality of our harvest as a result of the dry spell. Besides, our citrus industry continues to be threatened by diseases,” he said.
It was learned that this year’s citrus production, which included the sweet perante oranges as well as those seedless varieties, has dropped by around 50 percent.
The extremely low harvest has even forced citrus farmers there back to gold panning and the the environmentally-destructive small scale mining just to be able to make ends meet, Bumolo added.
“You cannot help it. We have only limited source of income,” Bumolo said, stressing that his administration was finding ways to help the affected citrus farmers.
A mountain town in the eastern part of the province bounding on Quirino province and populated mostly by indigenous peoples, Kasibu is also a mineral-rich area, which is a traditional mining and logging area.
Its citrus industry, which started as an experiment among a couple of farms in the Malabing Valley area several decades ago, gradually spread until citrus farms had covered practically the whole valley and nearby areas, transforming the mountain town as one of the leading sources of oranges in the region.
The long-running infestation of disease, such as the huang long bing and citrus tristeza virus, among citrus plantations and as well as the recently-concluded El Niño phenomenon has delivered a severe blow on the citrus industry in the province.
Huang long bing or citrus greening disease, according to experts, is capable of destroying at least 30 percent of harvestable citrus fruits. Likewise, the citrus tristeza virus, which is being spread by the black citrus virus, had been the cause of destruction to some 50 million citrus trees worldwide in 1981.
Their continued existence, the citrus farmers feared, could lead to the eventual death of the once-booming citrus industry in the province.
The state-run Nueva Vizcaya State University here has been exploring measures to find antidote to these destructive citrus diseases by introducing new citrus species resistant to said diseases.
“Hopefully, with the El Niño over and with (experts) eventually discovering lasting antidote to minimize or even eradicate the citrus diseases, we can regain our usual (citrus) production, which made our town as (Cagayan Valley’s) orange capital,” Bumolo said. CCL