If there is one industry that is synonymous to this region, it is the banana industry.
It is the one scene that confronts you from the air as the plane leaves the Agusan plains and flies past Compostela and Davao del Norteprovinces towards Davao City.
And Cavendish banana (shipped out from this region) is one commodity you can now access in the wet markets of the Visayas and Luzon as well as the tourist spots of Palawan and Southern Tagalog.
Not many know it but the banana industry has been holding its own as the country’s second-ranked Philippine agriculture exports sector. The top export product for decades has been coconuts.
Together coconut oil and fresh banana as the country’s top agricultural exports combined for an average share of 35.82% from 2004-2010.
Contributing $1.14 billion to the world banana trade in 2014, the local industry, particularly the fresh banana sector, is also the world’s fifth largest exporter of bananas.
By classification, the industry is divided into three, namely: Cavendish, lacatan, and saba-cardaba. Davao region attained the highest production with 3,854,835 metric tons. Highest production of saba was attained by Davao in 2010 with 582,529 MT.
Top major export destinations for fresh bananas include Japan, China and Korea. For chips and crackers, top export markets include Vietnam, China and USA. While, the three countries destinations of dried bananas for export are brought to Vietnam, Japan, and Saudi Arabia.
In general, the banana industry, both fresh and processed, occupies 443,370 hectares, with saba cornering 182,001 hectares. The rest is planted to lacatan, with 56,473 hectares, and the fresh Cavendish variety, with 85,809 hectares.
Mindanao, in particular, is home to Cavendish plantations with 85,809 hectares dispersed in fifteen provinces, five of them in Davao region alone. This is the equivalent of 19.35% of the total banana hectarage used for the entire industry in southern Philippines.
Around 44,670.29 hectares or roughly 50% of the banana industry hectarage is cultivated by firms registered with the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA), while the remaining 30,000 hectares are tilled by agrarian reform beneficiaries and small landowners, mostly under growership programs.
These plantations are found in the provinces of Bukidnon, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Davao Occidental, Compostela Valley, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, AgusandelNorte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Maguindanao, and Lanao del Sur.
Monetary terms
Volume of production from the fresh banana sector in 2015 reached 4,563,102 metric tons, providing over 515,000 jobs and paying taxes estimated at P6.5 billion. These figures do not include the P100 million spent annually for corporate social responsibility undertakings.
Industry estimates put the annual wages paid by the industry at P46.4 billion, and a yearly tax contribution to the public coffers of P6 billion.
In terms of development, technology, buildings, logistics, and marketing, PBGEA estimates that investment value per hectare of fresh banana farm costs P1.75 million, or approximately P150.4 billion for the 85,809 hectares covered.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country has an agricultural land area of 9.671 million hectares, divided as follows: arable land, 4.936 million hectares; permanent cropland, 4.225 million hectares; permanent meadows/pastures, 0.129 million hectares; forest land, 0.074 million hectares; other lands, 0.307 million hectares. Of the total arable land, only 450,125 hectares have been planted to bananas, 85,000 hectares of these are in Region XI.
The banana industry, moreover, is not only the largest private employer in the country; it is also the second biggest dollar earner. It has also been a huge factor in the development of idle lands and has given employment and ancillary opportunities to thousands of families. (30)
