Current Agricultural Chemical Trends in Philippines

Date:09-12-2012

The Philippines is a country dependent on agriculture with 13 million hectares of its total 30 million hectare land area devoted to agriculture activity. The total land area used for agriculture is further devisable into grain crops, food crops and non-food crops. Grain crops occupy 31%, food crops occupy 52% and non-food crop 17% of the total land used for cultivation.

Among grain crops, rice occupies the largest share followed by corn. Annual production of rice is around 16 million metric tons which is distributed across the country mostly into over 2 million small and mid-size farms. The land dedicate for rice production is extremely fragmented. Growing rice can also be considered predominantly as a rural profession.  In comparison annual corn production totals around 6.97 million metric tons which is a dominant crop in northern and southern part of the country.

Among food crops, coconut occupies the largest area with over 340 million fruit bearing trees spread across 3.56 million hectares, producing 15.5 billion nuts per year. Sugarcane is next in this segment with over 420 thousand hectares planted and producing around 30 million metric tons of cane sugar.

To sustain production agricultural chemicals are used extensively. The country imports bulk of its chemical inputs and there is no local production undertaken. However there are numerous local formulators who are dependent on importation of the active ingredient from overseas sources to develop their final product. The total agricultural chemical business in 2011 is estimated to be around 178 million US dollars. This figure is divided into following segments:

Category	Sales in 2011 ($ million)
Insecticides	62
Fungicides	55
Herbicides	50
Molluscicides	6
Nematicides	2
Others	3

                    Data received from Industry sources.

The chemical consumption per crop type is as follows:

Crops	% Consumption
Rice	33
Plantation (Banana & Pineapple only)	27
Fruits	19
Vegetables	14
Corn	4
Other crops	2
Non crops	1

                     Data received from Industry sources.

Plantations are second best segment where agricultural chemicals have their biggest share after rice. While rice is grown in small fragmented farms spread across the country, plantation present a concentrated area geographically located close to each other. Banana and pineapple grown in corporate plantations accounts to 60 and 25 thousands hectares. The country ranks 2nd and 3rd in exporting banana and pineapple in the world. Japan is the top most country importing both these 2 fruits from the Philippines. The area under plantation is on the increase with new entrants investing into this profit making sector. Presently Delmonte, Dole, Chiquita Unifrutti, Sumitomo and Lapanday are major fruit exporters.

Fruits are the next in the segment receiving higher chemical inputs. A number of tropical fruits other than banana and pineapple such as mango, papayas, avocado, dragon fruit, durian and mangosteen are produced for both domestic and export market. Mango is on the top of the fruit chart with regard to production after banana and pineapple and annual export revenue is estimated to be over US dollar 30 million.

Fruit Crops	Total areas planted (2011 figures, 000 ha.)	National Production (metric tons)
Banana	450	5,638,056 (2004)
Mango	187	771,441 (2009)
Pineapple	58	1,759,293 (2004)

Vegetables and legumes are next to fruits with regards to consumption of agricultural chemicals. Tomato, peanuts, beans, cabbage, eggplant, onion is some of the dominant crops with regards to land area and production.

References
• Quilang R.R (2011) Philippines policies on agricultural business and rural development to adapt to climate change. Journal of ISSAAS, Vol 17, pp 29-39.
• http://www.asiafruitcongress.com/
• http://www.bas.gov.ph
• http://www.pca.da.gov.ph/cocostat.php