Farm sector still reels from wrath of ‘Pablo’

The lingering effects of Typhoon “Pablo,” which devastated parts of Mindanao in late 2012, continue to take their toll on the domestic economy as production of bananas in the first quarter dropped 6.3 percent year-on-year to just about 2 million metric tons (MT).

According to the Bureau of Statistics (BAS), heavy rains and unusual weather conditions also pushed down the volume of calamansi but gave a boost to mango yields.

Pablo dampened harvest of one of the country’s top exports in the main producing regions of Davao, Caraga and Central Visayas.

Aside from the dollar-earning Cavendish type—which accounted for half of the first-quarter harvest—government monitoring includes yields of other varieties such as lacatan and saba.

Based on the BAS’ quarterly crops production survey, banana production shrank also because of the heavy rains that the Habagat or southwest monsoon unloaded in the third quarter of 2012.

The Habagat affected production in Bulacan while other parts of Central Luzon took the heat from hot weather conditions.

Unpredictable weather in Zamboanga Peninsula also pushed down yields.

Nationwide harvest of calamansi, another major fruit crop in the Philippines, eased by 2.2 percent to an estimated 19,103 MT.

Two of the major calamansi-producing regions—Calabarzon and Mimaropa—respectively reported sudden temperature changes and a shift to other crops like banana, lanzones and rambutan.

In Western Visayas, there were fewer trees that bore fruits and those that did mostly gave smaller calamansi.

Mangoes basked in the shifty weather with production leaping by 4.5 percent to 161,221 MT.

The BAS observed less weather disturbance during the flowering stage and fruit development in Central Luzon.

In Calabarzon, irregular weather conditions were believed to have caused mango flowers to bloom earlier than usual, resulting in advance harvest.

The Soccsksargen region also benefited from favorable weather as well as an increased number of fruit-bearing trees. This latter condition was also the case in Central Luzon and Western Visayas.

In the first quarter, pineapple production was also up by 5.8 percent to reach 541,855 MT.

However, the growth was attributed to more land area cultivated, bigger fruit sizes and the use of fertilizer. Ronnel W. Domingo