Agriculture and Fisheries

   The presence of development activities to support improvements in farming and fishery practices has registered an outstanding performance both in 2005 and 2006, shown in Table 7.0 – Agriculture and Fisheries Development State of Performance. The quality of LGU research and development facilities to support farmers and fisher-folks to test and adopt new products, practices and technologies has marked an impressive performance in 2005 and had remained constant in 2006. This can be attributed to the availability and quality of LGU support for farmers and fisher-folks, and policies supportive to national agricultural productivity program, comprehensive extension program, food security and productivity plan.

    Table 7.0 – Agriculture and Fisheries Development State of Performance

Local Competitive Advantages

             Agriculture and fishery is the foundation of the province’s economy. A large proportion of those employed are engaged in farming and fishery production. Stated below are the indicative data and other statistics sourced-out from concerned agencies.

a-      Agriculture

Palay Production

               The province has a total rice field area of 1,086 hectares both irrigated and rainfed/upland areas. Of the total area Lamitan City has 494 hectares or around 45.5% share, followed by Maluso with 153 hectares (14.10%), Tuburan with 139 hectares (12.80%), Isabela City (9.70%) and Lantawan (2.78%). While the municipalities of Tipo-Tipo and Sumisip is generally dependent of outside source/supply, since no area has been identified for rice field. Palay production in Basilan province for calendar year 2005 was 1,716 metric tons (MT) in irrigated areas and 496 MT in the rainfed/upland areas as shown in Table 7.1.1 - Rice Production, 2005 (in metric tons) The average yield for irrigated farms was recorded at 2.5 metric tons per hectare while for rainfed/upland areas had registered an average yield of 2.2 metric tons.

Table 7.1.1 - Rice Production, 2005 (in metric tons)

           Source: Prov’l. Agriculture Office, Basilan, 2005

       No segregation yet of other new LGUs

 Corn Production

The total area devoted to corn production in the province is around 414 hectares. Corns (yellow and white) are mostly planted in upland areas and usually intercropped with cassava. In 2005, approximately 588 metric tons of corn was produced in the province, refer Table 7.1.2 - Corn Production, 2005 (in metric tons). It may be noted that farmers prefer to plant white corn than yellow corn because of market advantage.

Table 7.1.2 - Corn Production, 2005 (in metric tons)

             Source: Prov’l. Agriculture Office, Basilan, 2005

No segregation yet of the new LGUs

Rubber

 The rubber industry in the province ranks second to coconut in terms of land area and volume of production. The economic importance of rubber cannot be underestimated, since several sectors are dependent and have benefited from this industry. In terms of environmental demands, rubber is fast becoming popularly used for reforestation due to the capacity of one tree to hold approximately 5,000 gallons of water.

 Comprehensive evaluation of the province's soil attributes and climate shows, that the entire province has the advantages and potential and is suitable for these perennial trees. Transforming the areas’ underutilized upland areas into rubber tree plantations offers a tremendous opportunity, as an economic enterprise.

 The province was one of the major producers of good quality rubber in the region until the advent of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in 1988 which led to the voluntary sale of large plantations to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) turned cooperative refer Table 7.1.3 Rubber Area, Cooperative by Location.

Table 7.1.3 – Rubber Area, Cooperative by Location

          Small rubber growers or farmers, however, managed to sustain the operation of the industry but not as effective and efficient as the large rubber plantations. Hence, the Provincial Government of Basilan is spearheading the planting of rubber both on large and small scale by providing farmers in the province with the necessary assistance. A Provincial Central Nursery was established by the late Congressman Wahab Akbar to sustain the needed planting materials, around 5-10 million rubber trees had been propagated and distributed for the past three to four years.

As per indicative data, there are 9,742 individual farmers in the province who had concentrated in rubber plantation. Of the total farmers, around 46.37% or 4,517 are individual farmers distributed among the nine municipalities and two cities, while 53.63% or 5,225 were former workers of the large corporations in the province. Some of these are members of the cooperatives and some are direct beneficiaries. Others were encouraged to go into rubber plantation due to the promising returns in the industry. In support to the industry, some LGUS, NGOs, financing institutions and concerned agencies has been assisting the sector in terms of technical knowledge, financial, inputs and other related services.

Table 7.1.4 – Area, Farmers and Population of Rubber Trees, by Location, 2006 shows, around 15,503 hectares are planted to rubber, of which 7,148 hectares or 47.49% were planted by individual farmers scattered in nine municipalities and two cities while 7,905 hectares are owned by members of the cooperatives within the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARCs).

Of the total rubber area, roughly 47% or 7,029.47 hectares are immature, 32% or 4,880.21 hectares are productive while 21% or 3,143.36 hectares are less-productive. In terms of distribution of rubber farms and growers, out of 255 barangays around 53% or 135 barangays are engaged with rubber.

A rubber federation was also organized which members composed of representatives from the different areas. There is a need to strengthen the rubber sector organizations in the province and in some municipalities.

 Table 7.1.4 – Area, Farmers and Population of Rubber, by Location, 2006

         Partial and indicative data

Source: OMAs/OCAs, OPag, DAF-ARMM & DTI-ARMM Basilan Provincial Office, June 2006

 Coconut

The province has a total of 67,058 hectares planted to coconut as shown in Table 7.1.5 - Coconut Production, by Location, 2005. Coconut production in the province was recorded at 81,974 metric tons. The municipality of Lamitan has the largest area planted to coconut with 11,911 hectares followed by the City of Isabela with 11,863 ha; Lantawan with 11,636 ha; Sumisip with 10,127 ha; Tuburan with 7,916 ha; Tipo-Tipo with 7,675 ha; and Maluso with 5,930 hectares.

Table 7.1.5 - Coconut Production, by Location, 2005

Source: PCA, Basilan, 2005

b. Livestock and Poultry

      Livestock and poultry industry remained entirely at the backyard level with chicken production reaching 218,254 heads in 2005. Cattle and carabao was recorded at 39,637 heads while goat production had reached 21,983 heads. The total number of hogs was recorded at 37,007 heads.

Table 7.1.6 - Livestock and Poultry, Basilan, 2005

Source: Prov’l. Agriculture Office, 2005

 c. Fishery Production

      Basilan is surrounded by rich fishing grounds such as the Basilan Strait, Moro Gulf, Sulu Sea and the Celebes Sea. Fish caught were bariles, alumahan, matang baka, dalagang bukid, tangingue, dilis, talakitok, lapu-lapu and labahita, among others.

      There are about 700 commercial fishermen, 10,000 full time and 17,000 part time municipal fishermen. Overall, about 12 percent of the total population is involved in fishing. In 2005, the province produced a total of 730 MT of fish and 186 MT of seaweeds.

Table 7.1.7 - Fishery Production, Basilan, 2005 (volume in M.T.)

Source: Prov’l. Agriculture Office, 2004-2005

  d. Support Services to Local Agriculture

 The Office of Provincial Agriculturist (OPag) of the Province of Basilan is composed of technical personnel who provide extension services to farmers, fishermen and fisherfolks. They are assigned according to their expertise as crop, fishery and livestock technicians.

 On the other hand, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries- ARMM, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and PhilRice had also been extending supports to all LGUs through the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Programs, the Basilan Accelerated Peace & Development Strategy (BAPADS) Program and the PhilRice-JICA Technical Cooperation Projects (TCP)

 Different agricultural development and support services, such as the establishment of the Post-Harvest Facilities Center, farm to market roads, rehabilitation of irrigation system, trainings, farmers’ field schools and provision of farm inputs, have already been implemented to boost agricultural productivity.