ILOILO City – The French government is helping the province of Guimaras develop the geographic indication (GI) for its sweet mango products in preparation for export to markets in the European Union (EU).
“The French government is helping the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and applicants like us get geographic indication. When we have that, it would be easy for our products to enter the European market,” said Guimaras Provincial Economic Development Officer Elena Quezon.
GI is a kind of branding attached to a certain location, such as Guimaras mangoes.
It is proof that the product follows the desired standard of the target market while it also observes good agricultural practices during the production process.
The IPO, with the help of the French government, EU and the Food and Agriculture Office (FAO), is in the final stages of polishing the guidelines for the issuance of the permit for the GI, she said.
Quezon added that the representative from the French government is waiting for the proposal of Guimaras as to the extent of the technical assistance it needs.
The technical assistance is expected to focus on strengthening the Guimaras Mango Producers on Marketing Cooperative that handles the collective mark stickers for their mango products.
The collective mark, which is similar to a trademark, was issued to Guimaras mango producers back in 2017.
“We police our own products if we have a geographic indication,” Quezon said.
Once the EU market is realized, Quezon said they have to make sure that at least 50 percent of their current 27,000 fruit trees will bear fruit annually.
“We really need to continue developing new farms since most of our fruit trees were affected by the road widening and irrigation projects,” she said. (PNA)
