A project has been launched to revitalize the calamansi industry in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro where production has declined in past years.

The project is a collaboration of the local government of Victoria, the Mindoro State College of Agriculture and Technology, and SEARCA or Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture based in Los Baños.

Under a memorandum of agreement signed by SEARCA director Dr. Gil Saguiguit Jr., Victoria Mayor Alfredo G. Ortega Jr. and MinSCAT president Dr. Jesse T. Zamora, the project aims to rehabilitate Victoria’s calamansi industry to make it economically viable and at the same time environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive.

According to Dr. Saguiguit, Mindoro is a major producer of calamansi in the country, yet it has been experiencing huge declines in production due to lack of appropriate marketing arrangements and value-adding activities for calamansi.

The project aims to increase yields, increase production of calamansi-based products, diverssify products and markets, and boost income as a result of better prices of products sold and reduced postharvest losses during peak season.

Saguiguit said the collaborative project is under the auspices of SEARCA’s Pilot and Upscaling Effective Models of Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development (ISARD) program.

Through the program, SEARCA brings to local communities effective agricultural systems as models of ISARD that demonstrate increased benefits for poor and vulnerable groups through integrated ground-level development interventions.