by Gregorio G. Deligero
The production of staple crops such as palay and corn in the Davao region declined in 2010, owing largely to the dry spell, pest infestation and shifting to industrial crops and commercial fruits.
In a presentation over the weekend of the “2010 Davao Region Socioeconomic Performance and 2011 Development Outlook” at the Philippine Information Agency 11, the department of agriculture (DA) reported that palay production in the region in 2010 only reached 306,263 metric tons, or a decrease of 8.8% from 335,843 recorded in 2009.
DA regional director Carlos B. Mendoza attributed the production decline to the dry spell during the first and second quarters of the year and pest infestations in the provinces of Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte and Davao del Sur.
Corn production also decreased by 13% from 154,911 metric tons in 2009 to 134,776 metric tons in 2010 due the decrease in harvested area resulting from crop shifting, particularly from corn to mango and coconut in Davao Oriental and from corn to banana in Davao del Norte.
Same trends
Similar trends were recorded among industrial crops such as coconut, rubber, coffee, cacao and sugarcane with a decrease of 1.4%, 0.8%, 3.8% and 46.5%, respectively. Mendoza said coconut production was affected by the “biological tree stress” factor that resulted to a 2 to 3-year cyclical harvest.
The DA also reported that rubber production in Davao del Sur and Compostela Valley was affected by dry spell, same with other industrial crops. The lower production of sugarcane was partly attributed to the decreased area harvested in Davao del Sur.
Fruit crop production managed to post a modest increase despite the dry spell, although the areas devoted to banana continued to expand. Banana production in 2010 barely increased (2.1%), a performance that the DA attributed partly to the closure of the Marsman farm in Compostela Valley.
Pineapple production, on the other hand, barely increased (.02% percent) as some areas planted to pineapple in Davao del Sur were shifted to banana production. The production of durian showed a huge increase (78.3%).
Rice imports
With the decreased palay production, the volume of Davao region’s rice importation increased by 98.40% from US$62.9 million in 2009 to US$124.7 million in 2010. Rice imports mainly came from Vietnam and Thailand.
“Rice has been the region’s top import in the last four years,” said regional director Maria Lourdes D. Lim of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
In terms of exports, fresh banana remained as the region’s top export, earning US$223.2 million, comprising about 40% of the US$559.9 million total value of exports. Davao region contributes 32% of the total Mindanao exports, second to Northern Mindanao’s 35%.
However, the value of banana exports decreased by 16% compared to 2009 due to the lesser volume of shipments.
In contrast, coconut exports rebounded and ranked second amounting to US$152.4 total earnings. It comprised 27% of the region’s total exports.
Despite the decrease in the volume of coconut production, the DA reported that the coconut farmers were not adversely affected as the price of copra resecada zoomed from a mere P16 per kilo in January to P 40 per kilo in October with the surge in the demand from Europe, United States, China and Korea.
The increased demand came about after Indonesia, the largest producer of coconut products, shifted to exporting palm oil instead of coconut oil.
