Featured Farmer: Leoncio Cayabyab — Keeping the Mango Hope Alive in Malasiqui, Pangasinan

In Malasiqui, Pangasinan, mango farming is not just a business. It is part of the town’s story.

Malasiqui is an agricultural town known for its mango fruits and for having one of the largest concentrations of mango trees in the Philippines. Pangasinan itself has long been recognised as one of the country’s strongest mango-producing provinces, with the Ilocos Region still recorded as the top mango-producing region in 2024.

For Leoncio Cayabyab, mangoes have been part of life since childhood.

He grew up in Malasiqui, where the sight of mango trees, harvest work, and farm conversations were part of everyday living. At a very young age, he was already exposed to mango farming — learning not from textbooks, but from the land, the trees, the weather, and the older farmers who understood the rhythm of each season.

Leoncio still remembers the strong years of the industry — the 1990s and early 2000s — when Pangasinan mangoes were in high demand, buyers were active, and the Philippine Carabao mango carried a proud name in both local and export markets.

But like many farmers, he has also seen the difficult years.

Higher input costs, pests, weather changes, stricter export requirements and uncertain market demand have made mango farming harder. Many have slowed down. Some have given up.

Leoncio has not.

He remains one of the hopeful farmers in Pangasinan who believes the Philippine mango can rise again, especially if export demand returns. His farming approach is guided by experience and restraint. As much as possible, he uses natural growing methods, keeps chemical input to a minimum, and applies only what is needed, when it is needed.

For him, mango farming is not about forcing the tree. It is about understanding it.

Through mango farming, Leoncio was able to support his family and raise his children, who are now professionals. One of them serves as a law enforcer with the Philippine National Police in Manila — a quiet achievement that shows how farming, when given the right opportunity, can change the future of a family.

Leoncio’s story is the story of many Filipino farmers: proud of the past, tested by the present, but still holding on to the future.

As Philippine Carabao mangoes look again towards export markets such as Australia, farmers like Leoncio remind us why this work matters. Behind every box of mangoes is not just fruit — there is a farmer, a family, a town, and a dream that the golden years of Philippine mangoes can return.

From Malasiqui to the world, Leoncio continues to believe that the best days of the Philippine mango can still return.