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Philippines


Philippines at a glance

Map of the Philippines

Flag of the Philippines
Population1

100.7 million

Gross Domestic Product2

292 billion US$

Agriculture3

10.3% of Gross Domestic Product

Total land area4

29.8 million hectares

Cultivated land5

12.1 million hectares

Cultivated banana area6

447,889 hectares

Banana production 7
9.36 million metric tons

The Philippines is one of the top five exporters of bananas, with some 2.85 million metric tonnes exported in 20178 .

In 2018, the country produced some 9.36 million metric tons of bananas7 on 447,889 ha6 , with Cavendish cultivars accounting for about 52% of total banana production, Saba (27%) and Lakatan (10%).

At the beginning of the century, as many as 90 cultivars were estimated to be grown for local consumption9 .

Banana-producing areas

Regions and provinces of the Philippines
Regions and provinces of the Philippines

In 2018, 84% of the bananas (and 99% of the Cavendish cultivars) were produced on the island of Mindanao, with Davao region, Northern Mindanao and Soccskargen as the top three regions.7

The main Saba-producing regions were Davao region, Soccskargen and Northern Mindanao on the island of Mindanao, and Cagayan Valley.7

The main Lakatan-producing regions were Soccskargen, Davao region and Northern Mindanao on the island of Mindanao.7

Production systems

In 2018, more than 4.9 million metric tons7 of Cavendish cultivars were produced on some 88,667 ha6 . Cavendish cultivars are grown in small to large commercial plantations for the domestic and export markets. Export bananas are produced by Filipino-owned firms and multinational corporations. The small- and medium-scale farmers producing bananas for export either sell to multinationals or directly to traders. A small portion of the country's exports are organic bananas.

Smallholder farmers commonly grow bananas primarily for home consumption in backyard gardens. They grow a diversity of dessert and cooking cultivars depending on their preferences and the ease with which they can be produced.

In small plantations, bananas are grown as monocrops in areas ranging from 2 to 20 hectares. The cultivars are selected based on local consumer preferences, the prevailing agroclimatic conditions and the types of pests and diseases present.

Production constraints

The tropical race 4 strain that causes Fusarium wilt in Cavendish cultivars, was confirmed in 200510 . The isolates had been collected from banana farms in the Davao Region, which occupies the southeastern portion of Mindanao11 . TR4  impacts both large commercial growers and smallholder farmers growing Cavendish for the export market12 .

The extent of the damage in the large Cavendish plantations for export has not been documented, but evidence suggests that the disease has taken a toll. In 2016, the Japanese company Itochu announced that it plans to invest US$57.7 million) in its Philippines subsidiary, Dole International Holdings, to increase productivity13 . The subsidiary reported a 30% decline in production, to about 540,000 tonnes, between 2012 and 2015. The goal is to raise production to about 850,000 tonnes through irrigation, the planting of more resistant material (most likely GCTCVs) and relocation of farms "to sites with better soil", by which it probably means TR4-free soils.

In 2013, the Mindanao Banana Farmers and Exporters Association, which represents small-scale farmers growing Cavendish cultivars for the export market, has reported that about 5,900 hectares of their members’ aggregate plantation area had been infected, including 3,000 hectares that have been abandoned14 .

References

1 2015 data from the World Bank
2 2015 data from the World Bank
3 2015 data from the World Bank
4 2011 data from FAOSTAT - Resources/Land
5 2011 data from FAOSTAT - Resources/Land
6 2018 data on banana area planted/harvested in OpenSTAT published by the Philippine Statistics Authority
7 2018 data on banana production by region in OpenSTAT published by the Philippine Statistics Authority
8 Export data from OpenSTAT, published by the Philippine Statistics Authority
9 Valmayor, R.V., Espino, R.R.C. and Pascua, O.C. 2002. The Wild and Cultivated Bananas of the Philippines. PARRFI, Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines. 242p.
10 Molina, A., Fabregar, E., Sinohin, V.G., Herradura, L., Fourie, G. and Viljoen, A. 2008. Confirmation of tropical race 4 of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense, infecting Cavendish bananas in the Philippines. Abstract of presentation to the 2008 Centennial Meeting of the American Phytopathological Society.
11 Molina, A.B., Fabregar, E., Sinohin, V.G., Yi, G. and Viljoen, A. 2009. Recent occurrence of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Tropical Race 4 in Asia. p.109-116. In: Jones, D.R. and Van den Bergh, I. (eds.). Proceedings of International ISHS-ProMusa Symposium on Recent Advances in Banana Crop Protection for Sustainable Production and Improved Livelihoods, White River, South Africa, 2007/09/10-14. Acta Horticulturae 828. ISHS, Leuven, Belgium.
12 Videos on the experience of banana farmers in the Philippines, part 1 and part 2.
13 Itochu to overhaul Asian banana farming for bigger yields in the 21 October 2016 edition of the Nikkei Asia Review.

See also on this website

Musapedia pages on banana-producing countries: