Monday, March 10, 2008 C. Mindanao's priority high value crops grow 22% in 2007
KORONADAL CITY -- Five of the six priority high value crops in Central Mindanao region posted positive growth year-on-year, regional Department of Agriculture (DA) officials said.
Reynaldo Lumaque, regional coordinator of the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani High Value Commercial Crop program, said that banana, mango, rubber, coffee and pineapple surged between 0.3 to 22 percent last year from 2006.
Vegetable production, however, was down from 43,081 metric tons in 2006 to 36,693 MT last year.
"This downtrend can be explained by the closure of some asparagus plantations because their contracts with companies have expired and they did not renew them," Lumaque explained.
But he added that vegetable production for the region this year may increase with a proposed special program, where farmers can access financial assistance from the DA between P3,000 to P30,000 per hectare.
"If this special program for vegetables will be approved, we are targeting 500 hectares of new vegetable farms," Lumaque said.
Pineapple, largely cultivated with corporate support mainly from Dole Philippines, Inc., posted the highest growth at 22 percent to 791,851 MT in 2007 from 649,301, data from the DA regional office showed.
Rubber came slightly behind at 21 percent, yielding for the region 129,995 in 2006 to 157,134 MT last year. Central Mindanao's rubber production was the second largest for the entire country, next to Zamboanga peninsula, which posted yields of 175,054 MT last year. The nation's rubber production in 2007 stood at 404,070 MT.
Also posting significant growth last year for Central Mindanao was mango, with a production of 51,152 MT last year, up 18 percent from 43,362 MT in 2006.
Banana production in the region last year was pegged at 934,192 MT, an increase of 12 percent from 830,822 the previous year.
Coffee posted insignificant growth of only 0.3 percent from 27,047 MT in 2006 to 27,123 last year, and this was brought about by the ageing of coffee plants that need replacement, Lumaque explained.
"Essentially, it was a good year for the region last year. We hope to further increase production volume this year on high value commercial crops," Abusama M. Alid, DA regional director, said.
The regional Agriculture department expects a growth on the priority high value commercial crops to be playing between four to 12 percent, Lumaque said.
Mango production was projected to grow in 2008 by 12% to 57,290 MT tons from 51,152 MT actual yields last year.
Rubber is seen to increase by 11 percent to 174,419 MT from 157,134 in 2007; Banana by 7.6 percent from 934,192 MT last year to 1.005 million MT this year; Pineapple by 6 percent to 839,362 MT from 791,851 MT; Vegetables by five percent to 38,525 MT from 36,693 MT; and Coffee by four percent to 28,208 MT from 27,123 MT.
