THE National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) has revealed the top agriculture-producing provinces in the Philippines through the release of the 2007 Philippine Countryside in Figures (PCIF) publication.

The NSCB said that in terms of palay production, the top spot went to Nueva Ecija, while in terms of corn production, the top producer was Isabela.

In terms of the country’s top fruit exports, banana and mango, the top producers were Compostela Valley and Pangasinan, respectively. The country’s top coconut producer was Davao Oriental.

The NSCB said that Nueva Ecija has been the top palay producer of the country for the past six years. In 2007 alone it yielded 1.36 million metric tons (MT) of palay, or 8 percent of the country’s total palay production last year.

The agency also noted that the highest growth rate in palay production was seen in Abra, which posted a growth of 37.8 percent.

Isabela, on the other hand, reigned as the country’s top corn producer with a yield of 906,478 MT in 2007.  The province was No. 1 in 2000 to 2004 and in 2006.

Sorsogon, the NSCB said, experienced the highest growth in corn production at 302.3 percent in 2007.

Meanwhile, Compostela Valley had the highest banana production with 1.16 million MT, while Pangasinan was the country’s top mango producer with 390,229 MT in 2007.

The province of Davao Oriental, on the other hand, produced 1.05 million MT of coconut, which was regarded as the highest among all Philippine provinces in 2007.

The NSCB said Bukidnon, Nueva Vizcaya and Masbate posted the highest increases in banana with 109 percent; mango, 155.6 percent; and coconut, 26.8-percent production, respectively, in 2006 and 2007.

The PCIF is one of the responses of the NSCB to address the clamor from various stakeholders, including investors and research analysts, for more provincial data.

The PCIF describes the state of the country’s 81 provinces in terms of various indicators on governance, income and expenditures, labor and employment, prices, finance, agriculture, health, education, communication, infrastructure, tourism, transportation, energy and public order, safety and justice.

The provinces/cities have been ranked according to these indicators; hence it can be used to compare the performance of our provinces and key cities in different areas of interest.

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