Source: NSO, 1991 Census of Agriculture and Fisheries and 2002 Census of Agriculture

Quezon had the highest number of farms

Among the provinces in CALABARZON, Quezon shared the highest number of farms with 112.2 thousand, covering 341.4 thousand hectares of agricultural land. In fact, the total farms for the province accounted for 39.7 percent of the total farms in the region. This was expected since Quezon had also the highest land area in the region. Areas under agricultural land comprised 38.2 percent of the total land area of the province. However, the number of agricultural farms for the province was lower by 7.2 percent over the 1991 level while the total area was lower by 14 percent.

Batangas ranked second with 91.3 thousand farms, covering 112.2 thousand hectares, while Laguna came in third with 38.4 thousand farms, covering 62.6 thousand hectares.

Palay was the major temporary crop in the region

In 1991 and 2002, palay was the major temporary crop in the region in terms of area planted. This crop accounted for 72.3 thousand farms with a combined area of 114.8 thousand hectares in 2002. Sugarcane followed with 18.7 thousand farms reporting, covering 25.9 thousand hectares. Third in rank was corn with 30.1 thousand farms reporting, covering 25 thousand hectares. Sugarcane ranked third in 1991 where corn ranked second.

Fruit bearing vegetables ranked fourth in 2002, from 5.9 thousand hectares in 1991 to 14.2 thousand hectares in 2002 or an increase of 141.9 percent. Of the five major crops in the region, this is the only crop that had an increase both in the number of farms and area planted.

Palay and corn were the common crops among the top five temporary crops across the provinces. Palay was the number one crop in all provinces in 2002 except in Batangas where sugarcane was the most important crop followed by palay.

Coconut was the dominant permanent crop

Coconut was the principal permanent crop in the region in terms of the number of trees/vines/hills. This crop accounted for 43.5 million trees in 167.4 thousand farms. Majority (83.8 percent) of these trees were grown by the operators in Quezon, as this province is the country's leading coconut producer. Pineapple followed with 9.3 thousand farms planted with 39.3 million hills. A high proportion (81.7 percent) of this crop came from Cavite. Pineapple was also one of the major crops in Cavite in 1991 in terms of area planted. Banana, on the other hand, came in third with 131.8 thousand farms planted with 11.3 million hills, which were mostly found in Quezon (55.5 percent).

In 1991, coffee robusta, coffee arabica, and mandarin (dalanghita) were also the major permanent crops planted, in addition to coconut and banana.

Communal system of irrigation was common in CALABARZON

Irrigation was an indispensable means for producing agricultural crops. In 2002, CALABARZON had about 75 thousand farms with an irrigated area of 125.8 thousand hectares, or 21.4 percent of the total agricultural land. The most common system of irrigation was the communal system, which supplied water to 24.4 thousand farms with an irrigated area of 36.1 thousand hectares. Individual system of irrigation followed next, which covered 40.4 thousand hectares. There were also other systems such as windmills, water fetching, waterwheels, etc., supplying water to 22.6 thousand hectares of agricultural land. Farms planted with temporary crops benefited most of the irrigation facilities in the region.

Hog raising dominated the livestock raising activity

The dominant livestock raised in CALABARZON was hogs. A total of 102.8 thousand farms reported to have reared one million hogs as of March 2003. In terms of number of hogs reared, the figure slightly increased by 0.1 percent as compared to 1991 level.

Cattle raising ranked second with 188.9 thousand heads tended, experiencing a slight decrease over the 1991 figure (189.5 thousand heads). Goats raising ranked third with 104.9 thousand heads as of March 2003, showing a 9.5 percent decrease over the 1991 figure.

Hog raising was the top livestock raising activity in all provinces of CALABARZON, with Batangas sharing the highest number of hogs tended (more than half of the total for the region). However, the next top livestock raising activity varied from one province to another' cattle ranked second in Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal; and carabao in Quezon.

 
Source: NSO, 1991 Census of Agriculture and Fisheries and 2002 Census of Agriculture 

Chicken was the primary poultry raising activity

Raising of chicken was the primary poultry raising activity in CALABARZON. About 168.9 thousand farms reported to have raised 20.4 million chicken in the region as of March 2003. In terms of the number of chicken raised, the figure was 4.9 percent lower than the 1991 figure of 21.4 million chicken.

Raising of ducks ranked second with 8.1 thousand farms reporting to have raised one million ducks. This registered a 12.4 percent decrease over the 1991 figure of 1.2 million heads. In contrast, quail raising increased to 716 farms reporting to have reared 284.3 thousand heads in 2002.

Among the provinces in the region, Batangas had the largest contribution to the total chicken population (33.8 percent), followed by Rizal (23.6 percent) and Laguna (16.8 percent).

Ornamental and flower gardening was also common in the region

While most agricultural operators in CALABARZON were engaged in common agricultural activities like planting palay, corn, etc., others were also involved in other agricultural activities in the area like bee culture/honeybee production, silkworm production, among others. For these types of agricultural activities, ornamental and flower gardening (excluding orchid) had the highest number of farms engaged in the region (3.5 thousand farms). This figure was 39.8 percent higher than the 2.5 thousand farms reported in 1991.

Mushroom culture also attracted the interest of the agricultural operators in 2002 where it posted a six-fold increase, from 126 farms in 1991 to 724 farms in 2002.

Male operators dominated the agriculture industry

As expected, more male operators were engaged in agricultural operations than their female counterparts. In 2002, male operators (243 thousand), accounted for 85.9 percent of the total agricultural operators in the region.

Majority of the household members engaged in agricultural activity were working in own agricultural holding

Majority of the household members engaged in agricultural activity were working in own agricultural holding

Household members of the agricultural operators were asked if they were engaged in any agricultural activity, whether in their own holding, in other holding or both.

In 2002, a total of 183.3 thousand household members were engaged in agricultural activities. Of this number, 163.7 thousand (89.3 percent) were employed in own holding, 9.4 thousand (5.1 percent) both in their own holding and in the holding of others, and 10.2 thousand (5.6 percent) in other holdings.

One in five of the household members aged 15 to 29 years were engaged in an agricultural activity. Most of them (85.4 percent) were working in their own holding.

Moreover, while males dominated the agricultural operations in the year, non-operator female household members who were engaged in an agricultural activity (104.4 thousand) outnumbered their male counterparts by 27.4 thousand.

Source:   National Statistics Office
                Manila, Philippines