Farm statistics bureau takes stock of Q1 crop production

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) said growth of production of several major crops in the first quarter was due to increased local and export demand, as well as better prices. But poor weather conditions, unfavorable prices, as well as diseases and pests still managed to stifle production of many other crops. BAS, in the situation report on four major food crops posted on its Web site, said production of bananas for the first three months of 2008 had an estimated volume of 1.9 million metric tons (MT), 18.8% higher than the production volume of 1.6 MMT in the same period last year. Recovery from storm damage "[The] expansion was primarily the result of steady growth in the cultivated area due to rising local and export demand, especially in Davao Region, [as] Davao-based corporate farms started to harvest from their newly opened areas in Northern Mindanao," BAS said. It added that "other producing regions recovered from the 2006 typhoons resulting in higher production levels." For pineapple and calamansi, total production for the three-month period also went up by 9.43% to 487 MT and by .47% to 22 MT, respectively. BAS said pineapple output growth was due to higher demand from both local and export markets, plus the recovery from the effects of 2006 typhoons, while higher calamansi production was attributed to good "fertilizer use and adequate soil moisture." Gainers and losers Tomato production reached 73.6 MMT in the first quarter, up by 3.3%. "The increment was the result of increased area planted in anticipation of higher price as well as high yielding varieties such as Maguilla, Ilocos Red and Apollo boosted production in Ilocos Sur and La Union," the report read. Garlic and cassava also increased production due to higher export demand and favorable market prices. Production of garlic went up to 10.97 MMT from last year’s 10.84 MMT, while cassava production gained 385.6 MMT from last year’s 372.5 MMT. Cabbage production also rose to 27.7 MMT from 25.6 MMT due to lower incidence of pests and diseases. Mango production, on the other hand, was estimated at 177 MT, or 24 MT less than last year’s first quarter, due to continuous rains and strong winds, which "affected bearing trees during flowering stage [produced] in the major producing regions of Ilocos, Central Luzon and Western Visayas." Crop shifting BAS also said that "continuous rainfall higher incidence of aphids and shifting to other cash crops such as okra and yellow corn in Pangasinan" resulted in lower mongo production in the first quarter at 8.35 MMT, 5.5% less than the volume recorded in the same period last year. Peanut production, it said, reached 12.3 MMT, lower by 4.6% than last year’s first quarter production of 12.9 MMT due to "unfavorable market price" of the root crop. Like peanut, eggplant output was also down by 3.9% from 67.1 MMT to 64.5 MMT. This decrease was attributed mainly to "continuous heavy rains during the flowering stage [affecting] production." Onion production also decreased during the periods concerned. For the Bermuda variety, production went down to 14.3 MMT from 15.4 MMT of last year. Native onion output was also slightly lower than last year’s production at 21.9 MMT from 22.1 MMT in 2007. Meanwhile, majority of the six non-food and industrial crops, particularly: coffee, rubber, coconut and sugarcane, increased in production. Coffee, rubber, and sugarcane all increased in production due to sufficient rainfall and sustained high market prices. Coffee production increased from 33.31 MMT in 2007 to 33.54 MMT in 2008; rubber production increased by 6.37% to 65.11 MMT and sugarcane production was from 11.111 MMT to 11.807 MMT. Mature coconut production was up by 5% to 3.465 MMT from last year’s 3.298 MMT due to the recovery of the coconut from the typhoons in the latter part of 2006. Young coconut production also went up to 73,000 MT 07 from 68,000 MT "due to increasing demand for buco juice and other products from coconut," said BAS. But the effects of bunchy top and mosaic diseases in abaca farms in Leyte [and] frequency of heavy rains slowed down harvesting and drying in major producing provinces brought down abaca production to 16.43 MMT in the first quarter from last year’s 16.65 MMT. Tobacco production also dropped from last year’s 13.74 MMT to this year’s 9.52 MMT.- BusinessWorld