10/03/2021
DO YOU know that in 1995, the Guinness Book of World Records listed the Carabao Mango as the sweetest fruit in the world and that the sweetest variety of the Carabao Mango is produced in the island province of Guimaras in the Philippines?
In Memoriam: Hernando G. Golez, Ph.D, The Philippine Mango King (1951-2009)
DO YOU know that in 1995, the Guinness Book of World Records listed the Carabao Mango as the sweetest fruit in the world and that the sweetest variety of the Carabao Mango is produced in the island province of Guimaras in the Philippines?
These mangoes could only be the result of the exemplary work and research done by Filipino scientist Dr. Hernani G. Golez – the Philippines’ top expert in the development of the fruit industry, particularly the high-value crop mango, and the most awarded researcher in the field of mango pest management and production. Among the many awards he received included the 2007 TOFIL (The Outstanding Filipinos) Award for Agriculture, the Outstanding Agricultural Scientist of the Philippines Award from PCARRD (Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development), the 2008 Ten Outstanding Filipino Award, the 2008 Outstanding UP Centennial Alumni Award, and the LA Tri-Media Award for Science and Technology.
Dr. Golez’s contribution to the mango industry was immense. He spent more than 25 years conducting research to improve the variety, increase production through proper pest management and post harvest handling of mangoes. His work led to the establishment of the National Mango Research and Development Center (NMRDC) in Guimaras. NMRDC assists mango growers in producing superior-quality mangoes through developed technologies in pruning, chemical flower induction, fertilization, irrigation, crop protection and post-harvest handling. These have also helped lessen their expenses, and protect the environment.
Golez was also renowned in his work in mango pests, which resulted in the international proclamation of Guimaras as mango pulp and seed weevil-free. His researches on mango seed weevils and fruit flies and in pest control also made possible the eradication of the mango fruit fly and resulted in the declaration of Guimaras Island in the Visayas a zone free of mango pulp and seed weevils. Guimaras became known as “Mango Country,” the only province capable of exporting mangoes to US and Australia, which immensely improved the quality of life of the Ilonggos.
With Golez’s expertise, many of the technical requirements for export have been addressed like pest risk analysis, survey, bio-assay, and export protocols.
The Philippine mango has traveled as far as Korea, China and New Zealand with Golez’s integrated pest management strategy for mango that utilizes other control procedures involving pruning, clean culture, fruit bagging and biological control.
Golez’s IPM book for mango published in 1997 has become the “bible” of Filipino mango growers. Access to proper mango production and propagation has become easy.
As a result, mango cultivation has become widespread, especially in Mindanao, which supply large volumes of mangoes during the off-season production in Luzon and Visayas.
The limited government support for the development of the NMRDC has never discouraged Golez. Instead, he sought the help of foreign institutions to help fund the construction or improvement of the Center’s facilities, as well as the acquisition of needed laboratory equipment and additional manpower. These have made the Center one of the most respectable research institutions in the country.
A native of Guimaras Island, Hernani G. Golez completed his undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Agriculture from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños. He obtained his Ph. D from the Ohio State University in US as a Department of Agriculture-World Bank Scholar.
Golez’s pioneering works in agriculture earned him several accolades from different organizations, such as the Outstanding DA Employee Gawad Saka Award from the Department of Agriculture; Hall of Fame Award from the Bureau of Plant Industry; Lingkod Bayan Award by the Civil Service Commission; the Pantas Award’s Most Outstanding Researcher/Scientist; Dungog Sang Iloilo by the Iloilo City Government and the Pest Management Award by the Pest Management Council of the Philippines.
Last year, 2009, the Philippines lost a great man when Golez suddenly died. Before his death at the young age of 58, he was working on a Mango Tree Encyclopedia, an Oman project, and a national survey of mango pulp and seed weevil in the Philippines funded by the US Department of Agriculture.
(www.asianjournal.com)
