The 20th International Mango Forum, held on 20 and 21 August in Piura and organised by the Peruvian Mango Growers Association (PROMANGO), left precisely that impression: an industry increasingly aware that producing is no longer enough and that adaptation, innovation and greater efficiency are essential to remain competitive.
The 20th edition brought together growers, exporters, researchers, technicians and companies from across the supply chain, with specialists from Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, the United States and other countries. The programme addressed some of the issues currently causing greatest concern within the industry: climate change, water availability, flowering, nutrition, plant health, productivity, food safety and access to international markets.
Beyond the official programme, however, the main conclusion emerging from these discussions was clear: the mango production model needs to change.
And Piura knows it.
Twenty editions on, the Forum enters a new phase
Reaching a 20th edition is no small achievement. In an agricultural sector exposed to production cycles, market fluctuations and constant technological change, maintaining a specialised event for two decades demonstrates a genuine need for knowledge exchange and dialogue.
PROMANGO has succeeded in turning its Forum into a key meeting point for the mango supply chain. But precisely because it has reached this level of maturity, expectations are now higher: it is no longer enough to explain the problems; the sector must help find solutions.
This year’s programme reflects that evolution. It went beyond commercial issues and conventional crop management to address topics such as climate change adaptation, the influence of weather on flowering, disease diagnosis from the nursery through to post-harvest, integrated pest and disease management, biostimulants and new pest-monitoring tools.
In short, it was a programme looking firmly towards the future.
Climate has become the grower’s main interlocutor
One word hangs over many of the concerns facing Peru’s mango industry today: climate.
Climate change is no longer a long-term environmental issue for growers. It is a reality that directly affects flowering, tree behaviour, production and, ultimately, profitability.
That is why placing climate adaptation at the centre of the debate was one of the Forum’s most relevant decisions. Presentations examined both climate behaviour and its influence on the flowering and production of Kent mangoes, as well as adaptation strategies and experiences developed in other countries.
The implication is clear: growers need to stop making decisions based only on the climate they used to have and start planning for the climate that lies ahead.
This requires weather information, predictive models, phenological monitoring, physiological knowledge and the ability to interpret data.
Above all, however, it requires something that remains one of agriculture’s major challenges: turning information into profitable decisions.
Having a weather station does not transform a farm. Knowing which agronomic decision to make because of the data it provides does.
Flowering, the key battleground
In mango production, flowering is not simply another stage in the crop cycle. It is one of the moments when a large part of the campaign’s economic outcome begins to be determined.
It is therefore significant that the programme devoted considerable attention to floral induction, biostimulants and the metabolic response of Kent mangoes to high temperatures.
The underlying question is how to achieve more uniform and predictable flowering under increasingly unstable conditions.
This is where scientific knowledge must meet growers’ experience. The industry has more tools available than ever before, but there is also a risk of entering a race towards products and commercial solutions without sufficient agronomic validation.
The challenge for the coming years will be to distinguish between genuine innovation and catalogue innovation.
And that distinction should occupy an increasingly important place in future PROMANGO forums.
Plant health: producing well is no longer enough
Another major message from this edition is that plant health is no longer solely an agronomic issue. It has become a commercial and strategic issue.
The Forum addressed everything from disease diagnosis throughout the production chain to integrated disease management and new techniques for pest monitoring and control. The impact of fruit fly on exports was also part of the discussion.
The connection is direct.
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A phytosanitary problem can increase production costs, reduce yields, compromise quality and, in certain circumstances, become a barrier to accessing specific markets.
Plant health, food safety and international trade can therefore no longer be analysed separately.
They are three sides of the same competitiveness equation.
And Peru’s mango industry has a great deal at stake.
The real indicator is not producing more, but earning more
Perhaps one of the questions that should guide the sector’s future debate appears deceptively simple:
What does being productive actually mean?
For decades, the answer was linked primarily to yield per hectare. But that indicator alone is no longer enough.
A crop can produce more kilos and still generate less profit if it requires more water, fertilisers, crop protection treatments, labour or energy.
The real challenge, therefore, is to move towards economic productivity, not just agronomic productivity.
Growers need to know how much it costs them to produce a kilo, how much value they receive for that kilo and what margin remains after all production costs have been covered.
Seen from this perspective, the presentations on nutrition, biostimulation, fertilisation, flowering and crop management take on a different dimension.
The innovation needed by Peru’s mango industry is not innovation that allows it to produce more at any cost.
It is innovation that enables growers to produce better, using fewer resources and obtaining greater value.
The internationalisation that matters is the internationalisation of knowledge
One of the Forum’s main strengths was its international dimension.
The participation of specialists from different countries made it possible to compare experiences developed under different production realities. PROMANGO positioned the event precisely as a space for exchanging knowledge and analysing the critical points affecting the mango production chain.
