BANANA, mango and pineapple production rose in the fourth quarter of 2018, while calamansi production declined during the period, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Wednesday.
The PSA, in its Major Fruit Crops Quarterly Bulletin, said that banana production rose 0.6% to 2.42 million metric tons (MT) in the last quarter of 2018.
The Davao Region led the country with output of 904.13 thousand MT, accounting for 37.3% of the total, followed by Northern Mindanao with 492.25 thousand MT.
The Cavendish variety of banana, typically for export, accounted for 51.9%, followed by saba, a cooking banana, at 27.6%, while lakatan and other varieties totaled 20.5%.
Mango production, meanwhile, rose 0.5% to 27.62 thousand MT, with Zamboanga Peninsula the top producer accounting for 26%, followed by the Caraga region at 24.1% and Northern Mindanao at 15.4%,
The carabao mango accounted for 22.56 thousand MT, or 81.7% of the total.
Pineapple production rose 1% to 706.46 thousand MT, the PSA said, with Northern Mindanao accounting for 64.2% of the crop, followed by SOCCSKSARGEN at 30%.
Calamansi production was 26.75 thousand MT, down 4.6% from a year earlier.
According to PSA, the Calabarzon Region produced the most calamansi for the period at 4.48 thousand MT, or 16.8% of the total. This was followed by Zamboanga Peninsula at 13.2% and Caraga at 12.8%.
The PSA said output gains were posted for mung beans, cabbage, tomatoes, bermuda onions, and native onions while declines were seen for peanuts, eggplant, sweet potato and cassava.
Mung bean production in the last three months of 2018 was 3.13 thousand MT, up 1.6% from a year earlier.
ARMM output accounted for 51.6% of the total followed by Davao Region at 11% and Central Visayas at 9.8%.
Cabbage output rose 2.5% to 51.57 thousand MT, with the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) the top producing area accounting for 79.7% of the total with 41.08 thousand MT.
Tomato production rose 0.6% year-on-year to 28.30 thousand MT, with Northern Mindanao the top producer with 16.11 thousand MT representing 56.9% of the total.
Bermuda onion production totaled 69 MT, up 7.8% year-on-year. Ilocos was the top producer at 53 metric tons or 76.8% of the total, with the remainder produced by Cagayan Valley.
Native onion production rose 1% year-on-year to 9.32 thousand MT led by Ilocos with 9.31 thousand MT, accounting for the 99.8% of the total.
Peanut production fell 1.8% year-on-year to 5.03 thousand MT with Northern Mindanao the top producer at 1.10 thousand MT or 21.9% of the total.
Eggplant production was 24.24 thousand MT for the period, down 1.4% from a year earlier, led by Calabarzon at 4.59 thousand MT or 18.9% of the total.
Sweet potato production fell 1.1% to 128.61 thousand MT led by Central Visayas with 17.31 thousand MT or 13.4%, followed by Eastern Visayas with 12.7%, and Zamboanga Peninsula with 12.1%.
Cassava production fell 1.4% year-on-year to 768.30 thousand MT led by ARMM with 458.76 thousand MT or 59.7% of the total, followed by Northern Mindanao with 14.2% and Cagayan Valley with 7.1%. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio
