By ZAC B. SARIAN
May 6, 2009 Issue
Among the bestsellers at the recent national mango congress in Tagbilaran City were the dried mangoes and mango juice produced by the Itable Agri-Industrial Corporation in Tubigon, Bohol.
This is Bohol’s first mango processing plant owned by Cecilio "Dodie" Itable and wife Lorna. The plant started only in August last year but it is producing high quality mango products under very hygienic conditions. The plant used to be a shrimp processing plant that ceased operations several years ago. The plant is just perfect for mango processing.
The plant processes some three tons of fresh mango every week mainly into dried mango and juice. That’s equivalent to 750 kilos dried mangoes each week. Pretty soon, the production will increase as new dryers are being fabricated. Mango puree will also be launched in a month’s time, according to Dodie.
What’s good with Dodie is that he is an engineer and he fabricates most of the equipment used in the factory. He is a contractor servicing machineries of big companies in Luzon but also runs the processing plant in Bohol with the help of his siblings and other employees. He is very fortunate because he has a townmate who is well experienced in processing dried mangoes, having worked for a long time in a Cebu dried mango factory.
To make sure that there is continuous supply of raw materials, he has assembled two crews for the contract spraying of other farmers’ mango trees. At the same time, he has started a 45-hectare mango plantation near his processing plant that will eventually supply his raw material requirements.
One trader who saw the excellent quality of Itable’s dried mango immediately placed his bulk order from him at the mango congress. The trader intends to pack the dried mango in small packs for distribution to a network of outlets he has been serving in Metro Manila.
Aside from the ordinary dried mango, the Itable’s have come up with a novel dried mango coated with chocolate. It’s an innovation suggested by a Norwegian, according to Dodie.