IMAGE 2: Map of North CotabatoIMAGE 1: Empire Province of Cotabato

RICE INDUSTRY PROFILE: NORTH COTABATO

GENERAL INFORMATION

The original Cotabato Province, known as the “Empire Province of Cotabato,” used to be the largest in the country in terms of land area until November 22, 1973 when PD 341 created from it the new provinces of Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao.  Earlier, South Cotabato was segregated, and what was then North Cotabato was renamed Cotabato under Batas Pambansa 660. (Image 1)

Now only 900,890 hectares (roughly 9,008 sq. km.) in area (2007 census), it is still big enough to comprise about 40% of the total land area of Region XII (SOCCKSARGEN).  Located in central Mindanao, Cotabato is bounded on the north by the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Bukidnon; on the east by Davao City; on the southeast by Davao del Sur; on the west by Maguindanao and on the southwest by Sultan Kudarat (Image 2). Its land area stretches west from Mt. Apo, to the Piapayungan Range on its boundary with Lanao. In the midst of these uplands is the basin of the Pulangi River or Rio Grande de Mindanao, the second longest in the Philippines at 300 km, which rises in Bukidnon and flows south to Maguindanao and Illana Bay. The province’s fertile plains are traversed by tributaries of this great river.

Typhoons do not pass through North Cotabato. It falls under the 4th Climatic Type having an evenly distributed rainfall throughout the year with no pronounced rainy periods. This rainfall pattern contributes to high production levels in agriculture.

Under the Department of Finance’s 2008 Income Re-classification, Cotabato is considered a 1st Class province with a total population of 1,121,974 (2007 census). Politically, it is subdivided into two (2) legislative districts, with 17 municipalities and a component city that represent some 543 barangays.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

(North) Cotabato is a major producer of cereals, tropical fruits, vegetables, sugarcane, rubber, coffee, freshwater fish and livestock. Based on the 2003-2008 Major Crops Statistics of the Philippines released by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics in 2009, out of the country’s 79 provinces, Cotabato was one of the top producers of major crops under the following commodity groupings: Cereals, Fruit Crops, Non-Food and Industrial Crops and Vegetables and Root Crops (Table 1).

Table 1. Production of 21 Major Crops of the Philippines: North CotabatoMAJOR CROP RANK VOLUME OF

PRODUCTION (MT)PRODUCTION

AREA (HECTARE)Palay 9th 491,715 131,870Corn 5th 368,162 133,890Abaca ― nil nilCoconut 30th 180,448 37,000Coffee 11th 2,564 3,793Rubber 1st 163,220 30,175Sugarcane 7th 688,127 10,686Tobacco 13th 34 21Banana 4th 608,397 15,568Calamansi 4th 5,396 615Mango 6th 24,629 7 ,480Pineapple ― nil nilCabbage 9th 994 132Camote 21st 7,213 1,226Cassava 24th 9,340 941Eggplant 8th 5 ,017 429Garlic NA NA NAMongo 13th 368 442Onion NA NA NAPeanut 25th 238 257Tomato 11th 4,110 499

Source: (BAS, 2009)

The province’s livestock and inland fish production is likewise relatively significant (Table 2).

Table 2. Summary of Livestock and Inland Fish Production: North CotabatoLIVESTOCK/FISH 2008 (1st qrtr) 2009 (1st qrtr) 2010 (1st qrtr)Hogs (heads) 233,244 236,124 256,793Cattle (heads) 58,348 60,543 62,910Carabao (heads) ― ― 102,842Chicken (heads) 2,489,339 2,329,297 2,306,981Fish (MT) 2,123 3,704 3,126

Source: (BAS, 2008-2010)

Of the province’s 632,000 population of 15 years old and above, the labor force is equivalent to some ???? of which ???? is employed. Of this, an estimated ?? is employed in agriculture related jobs.

RICE INDUSTRY

Paddy rice is one of the main cash crops of Cotabato, contributing nearly 40% of Region XII’s total rice production. This is roughly 12.8% of Mindanao’s contribution to the nation’s produce in 2009 or 3% of the country’s palay production that year. Among the 27 southern provinces, Cotabato has been the top rice producer in the past 10 years, even besting the combined output of the provinces of Region XI (Davao) or of CARAGA in 2008 and 2009. (Chart 1)

Chart 1: Rice Production: RXI, Cotabato, and CARAGA

Production Area

Cultivation of irrigated and rainfed rice is practiced in all municipalities of the province, but extensively in M’lang, Pigcawayan, Libungan, Midsayap, Kabacan, Tulunan, and Makilala. The presence of River Irrigation Systems in these areas as well as dominance of clay-based type soils in its agricultural lands provide them an advantage for producing the country’s staple. Recently, Pikit has been added to this list with the construction and operation of the Maridagao River Irrigation System which serves some 1,000 hectares in four (4) Moro-dominated barangays (MindaNews, June 2008). The system is part of the Malitubog-Maridagao Irrigation Project I (MalMar project), which also covers the municipality of Carmen and Pagalungan, Maguindanao (GMA News, June 2008).

Cotabato’s estimated minimum land area devoted to the production of palay is placed at 132,659 hectares in 2009. Over the past 10 years, this area either increased or decreased (Table 3) depending on mitigating circumstances (e.g., availability of irrigation services, drought, impetus from government, financing issues, etc.).

Table 3. Minimum Rice Area, Irrigated and Rainfed: North CotabatoRICELAND 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009Irrigated 88,427 86,731 85,145 83,821 84,128 83,747 85,078 87,772 91,128 91,411Rainfed 36,463 34,442 31,964 29,514 35,739 34,403 36,964 35,085 40,742 41,248TOTALS 124,890 121,173 117,109 113,335 119,867 118,150 122,042 122,857 131,870 132,659% or (from prior yr) -5.70 -2.98 -3.35 -3.22 5.76 -1.43 3.29 0.67 7.34 0.60Source: (BAS, 2010)

Chart 2 shows the top 10 municipalities in terms of land area planted to palay in 2008 as identified by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist.

Chart 2. Top 10 Municipalities in terms of Rice Areas (has), 2008

It is interesting to note that among the extensively planted areas identified by OPAg Cotabato, Makilala does not belong to the top 10 rice planted areas. The combined areas of other extensively planted municipalities account for almost 80% of the palay producing fields of the province, with the top 3 (M’lang, Tulunan, and Midasayap) cornering more than 50%.

Yield

The province’s particular topography plus being outside the typhoon-belt helped in making and sustaining it as one of the Top 10 Rice Producing Provinces in the country since 2000. (Table 4)

Table 4. Top 10 Rice Producing Provinces of the PhilippinesPalay 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Annual Annual Annual Annual Annual Annual Annual Annual AnnualNueva Ecija 878,707 954,899 968,754 1,101,798 1,128,070 1,136,623 1,231,176 1,356,161 1,372,378Isabela 1,034,297 1,048,458 954,585 938,405 1,061,979 1,089,381 987,760 1,036,917 1,063,875Pangasinan 720,121 742,156 738,820 800,438 809,240 835,874 976,198 1,011,115 1,027,289Iloilo 599,293 635,914 736,123 729,368 829,027 670,300 854,646 823,376 942,286Cagayan 513,600 513,991 507,036 482,884 571,200 491,806 688,919 702,561 707,172Leyte 282,160 306,713 346,821 387,326 417,048 458,641 479,264 582,840 605,833Tarlac 383,581 426,992 432,379 462,224 480,042 493,414 478,521 557,943 550,552Camarines Sur 330,966 347,725 386,160 381,039 501,343 524,625 464,277 560,809 526,936North Cotabato Ranking % or

415,366(6th)

7.42%

428,794(6th)

3.13%

425,434(7th)

-0.79%

394,006(7th)

-7.98%

417,123(8th)

5.54%

420,783(9th)

0.87%

433,641(9th)

2.97%

449,202(9th)

3.46%

491,715(9th)

8.65%Maguindanao 241,559 269,161 258,712 224,222 355,055 400,446 400,573 433,766 432,589Negros Occ. 370,587 328,008 325,639 350,749 384,311 391,667 413,906 425,112 432,527Sultan Kudarat 308,111 342,736 340,808 344,635 367,190 357,664 395,435 400,384 399,511Note: Negros Occidental and Sultan Kudarat alternately placed 10th between 2000-2004, afterwhich they were overtaken by Maguindanao.Source: (BAS, 2010)

Since 2000, Cotabato’s production have been stable at over 410MT annually, except for 2003. Over the 9-year period of 2000-2008, the province recorded an average increase in production of 2.59%. The decline in Cotabato’s ranking from 6th to 9th place is attributed to the increase in production of Leyte, Tarlac and Camarines Sur. This is shown in 2001 when Tarlac

overtook Cotabato in 6th place, in 2004 as CamSur surged to 6th place, then again in 2005 when Leyte dislodged Cotabato at 8th.

Table 5 provides a breakdown of the province’s total production according to type of Riceland from 2000-2008, while Table 6 presents the level of production per municipality in 2009.

Table 5. Volume of Palay Production, Irrigated and Rainfed. Palay 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Irrigated 320,335 332,663 337,246 319,087 324,694 320,254 330,247 353,100 367,733Rainfed 95,031 96,131 88,188 74,919 92,429 100,529 103,394 96,102 123,982TOTALS 415,366 428,794 425,434 394,006 417,123 420,783 433,641 449,202 491,715

Source: (BAS, 2010)

Table 6. Summary of Rice Production Per Municipality, 2009.

Municipality

Planting Harvesting

Average Yield/haIrrigate

d (ha)Rainfed

(ha)Total (ha)

Irrigated RainfedTotal Area

Harvested

(ha)

Total Production

(MT)Area (ha)

Prodn (MT)

Area (ha)

Prodn (MT)

Alamada 3,325 2,310 5,635 2,800 11,460 2,310 5,973 5,110 17,433 3.4 Aleosan 76 665 741 76 256 665 1,706 741 1,963 2.6 Antipas 2,280 ―  2,280 1,875 7,357 ― ― 1,875 7,357 3.9 Arakan 534 490 1,024 534 1,931 487 1,469 1,021 3,401 3.3 Banisilan 228 2,245 2,473 228 893 2,185 7,014 2,413 7,906 3.3 Carmen 8,091 1,858 9,949 6,985 26,830 1,858 5,761 8,843 32,591 3.7 Kabacan 9,578 161 9,739 8,137 41,221 161 705 8,298 41,926 5.1 Kidapawan 2,828 814 3,642 2,828 9,549 814 2,673 3,642 12,221 3.4 Libungan 4,47 1,356 5,827 3,741 14,413 1,278 4,149 5,019 18,561 3.7 Magpet 2,539 ― 2,539 2,359 8,781 ― ― 2,359 8,781 3.7 Makilala 2,246 ― 2,246 2,246 10,025 ― ― 2,246 10,025 4.5 Matalam 7,067 1,731 8,798 7,067 30,290 1,731 6,862 8,798 37,152 4.2 Midsayap 11,398 813 12,211 9,654 39,765 813 2,719 10,467 42,483 4.1 M’lang 18,031 4,553 22,584 15,091 62,884 4,553 15,077 19,644 77,960 4.0 Pigcawayan 5,160 911 6,071 5,160 23,110 911 2,832 6,071 25,941 4.3 Pikit 1,941 5,352 7,293 1,941 8,302 5,298 17,847 7,239 26,149 3.6 Pres. Roxas 6,965 ― 6,965 6,965 28,934 ― ― 6,965 28,934 4.2 Tulunan 10,210 2,365 12,575 9,883 46,997 2,365 9,928 12,248 56,925 4.6

Total 96,968 25,624 122,59

2 87,570 376,532 25,429 84,713 112,999 461,244 4.1 % 79.1 20.9 100 77.5 81.63 22.5 18.37 100 100Source: (OPAg, 2010)

Data in Table 6 shows that in terms of Total Area Planted, Total Area Harvested and Total Production the municipalities of M’lang, Tulunan, and Midsayap are consistently ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Their combined production comprises over 38% of the province’s palay yield, respectively contributing around 17, 12.34, and 9.21 percent.

Unlike the top three producers, the rest of the noteworthy municipalities present some seeming disparities and opportunities for development intervention. For example, while Carmen is on 4th place in area planted and area harvested, it is only 6th in level of production and belongs to the 4th lowest yielders at only 3.7 tons per hectare. Kabacan and Matalam, which had lesser land area planted to palay, producing higher yields due to their high average per hectare yield at 5.1 tons and 4.2 tons, respectively.

Interestingly, among the three top producers, only Tulunan had a high average yield of 4.6 tons per hectare, which is 2nd to Kabacan’s 5.1 tons. However, the latter was only 4th in production level, contributing 41,926 MT or 557 MT less than the 3rd highest producer. M’lang and Midsayap, on the other hand, placed only 7th and 6th in average yield, with averages of only 4.0 and 4.1 tons per hectare, respectively (the latter, being the provincial average). Makilala, which neither ranked in area planted nor area harvested, and was only 3rd to the last (or in 16th place) in total production, held the distinction of having the 3rd highest average yield per hectare at 4.5 tons.

Value of production

Cotabato is one of only 12 provinces considered as rice surplus areas of the Philippines, half of which are in Mindanao (Image 3). In 2008, the province had an estimated surplus of around 89,902MT of milled rice or about 1.798M bags.

Image 3. Rice Distribution Map of Mindanao, NFA.

Table 7 presents the breakdown of rice production, utilization and estimated value of surplus(deficit) per municipality as reported by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist in 2008. Using the data provided by OPAg Cotabato, the province’s total production of 430,451MT palay could have generated about 5,595,863 sacks of milled rice which could have an estimated value of PhP 3.497B at that time. Of this, some 89,902MT was the province’s surplus in milled rice, which had an estimated value of PhP1.123B.

Table 7. Summary of Rice Production, Utilization, and Estimated Value Per Municipality, 2008.

MUN/CITY

PRODN (MT)

RICE EATING

POP (89% of Total)

FIELD LOSSES

(MT)13%

SEED REQT (MT)0.06

MT/ha

ANIMAL FEEDS (MT)7%

NET PRODN

FOR MILLING

(MT)

MILLED RICE (MT)

65% RR

HUMAN CONSUMPN

(MT)0.13MT/hd/yr

SURPLUS/ DEFICIT, MILLED

RICE (MT)

ESTIMATED VALUE (PhP)

Alamada 12,026 46,427 1,563 214 841.8 9,406.8 6,114.4 6,035.5 78.9 986,375.00Aleosan 6,125 29,258 796 136 428.8 4,764.0 3,096.6 3,803.5 -706.9 -8,836,750.00Antipas 5,405 20,374 703 89 378.4 4,235.0 2,752.8 2,648.6 104.1 1,301,625.00Arakan 14,663 34,458 1,906 333 1,026.4 11,397.4 7,408.3 4,479.5 2,928.8 36,609,625.00Banisilan 7,876 32,545 1,024 155 551.3 6,145.8 3,994.8 4,230.9 -236.1 -2,951,000.00Carmen 8,491 58,446 1,104 164 594.4 6,628.8 4,308.7 7,598.0 -3,289.3 -41,115,750.00Kabacan 58,714 65,852 7,633 635 4,110.0 46,336.2 30,118.5 8,560.8 21,557.8 269,472,125.00Kidapawan 11,137 104,673 1,448 181 779.6 8,728.6 5,673.6 13,607.5 -7,933.9 -99,173,750.00Libungan 14,157 39,091 1,840 255 991.0 11,070.6 7,195.9 5,081.8 2,114.1 26,425,750.00Magpet 9,561 39,261 1,243 153 669.3 7,495.8 4,872.3 5,103.9 -231.7 -2,895,750.00Makilala 9,735 63,673 1,266 130 681.5 7,658.0 4,977.7 8,277.5 -3,299.8 -41,247,375.00Matalam 23,299 58,922 3,029 332 1,630.9 18,307.2 11,899.7 7,659.9 4,239.8 52,997,750.00Midsayap 48,527 109,758 6,309 693 3,396.9 38,128.6 24,783.6 14,268.5 10,515.1 131,438,125.00M’lang 79,924 76,826 10,390 1,085 5,594.7 62,854.2 40,855.2 9,987.4 30,867.9 385,848,125.00Pigcawayan 20,973 52,862 2,726 408 1,468.1 16,370.4 10,640.8 6,872.1 3,768.7 47,108,750.00Pikit 10,784 85,771 1,402 185 754.9 8,442.2 5,487.4 11,150.2 -5,662.8 -70,785,000.00Pres. Roxas 22,948 38,388 2,983 333 1,606.4 18,025.4 11,716.5 4,990.4 6,726.1 84,075,875.00Tulunan 66,106 41,972 8,594 857 4,627.4 52,027.8 33,818.1 5,456.4 28,361.7 354,521,375.00Total 430451 998557 55,959 6338 30,131.6 338,022.8 219,714.8 129,812.4 89,902.4 1,123,780,125.00

Source: (2008 Socio-Economic Profile – Province of (North) Cotabato, Provincial Planning and Development Office, 2009)Assumption: Estimated Value of Surplus(Deficit) computed at PhP625.00/cavan of 50 kgs.

While there were 11 municipalities with surpluses of milled rice in 2008, M’lang, the top surplus producer, had more than enough (30,867MT) to cover the province’s total deficit (21,360.5MT). As expected, the City of Kidapawan, being the main urban area had the most deficit at 7,933.9MT or 158,678 sacks of milled rice valued at PhP99.173M.

Infrastructure support

All of the 17 municipalities and the capital city of Cotabato are serviced by a combination of irrigation facilities: national, communal, pump, small water impounding projects, and shallow tube wells. The Provincial Irrigation Office (NIA-PIO) reported that more than 200 irrigation facilities are existing in the province by 2009. Fifty-two of these are communal irrigation systems (CIS), 53 are Small Water Impounding Projects (SWIP), 94 units of Shallow Tube Wells (STW), and 5 National Irrigation systems (NIS). Table 8 presents the breakdown of existing irrigation facilities in Cotabato province according to location, type, and service areas.

Table 8. Existing Irrigation Systems in Cotabato.LOCATION TYPE SERVICE AREA (HA)

ALEOSAN STW (7) 84SUB-TOTAL 84

ANTIPAS CIS (4)STW (1)

21619

SUB-TOTAL 235ALAMADA CIS (9)

SWIP (1)Private (5)

50517

202SUB-TOTAL 724

Table 8 cont.ARAKAN CIS (2)

STW (1)235

6SUB-TOTAL 241

BANISILAN CIS (1) 100SUB-TOTAL 100

KABACAN NIS (1)CIS (5)

STW (6)

4,0131,016

111SUB-TOTAL 5,140

KIDAPAWAN CIS (9)SWIP (1)

1,20265

SUB-TOTAL 1,267LIBUNGAN NIS (1)

CIS (3)STW (5)

1,43917028

SUB-TOTAL 1,637MATALAM RIS (1)

CIS (3)STW (9)

941529593

SUB-TOTAL 2,063MAKILALA CIS (5) 801

SUB-TOTAL 801MAGPET CIS (7) 737

SUB-TOTAL 737CARMEN NIS (1)

STW (3)2,932

136SUB-TOTAL 3,068

PIGCAWAYAN NIS (1)CIS (8)

Pump (3)SWIP (4)STW (11)

1,0931,227

2719555

SUB-TOTAL 2,597MIDSAYAP NIS (1)

STW (2)5,984

7SUB-TOTAL 5,991

TULUNAN NIS (1)CIS (11)

STW (14)SWIP (4)

403,262

606122

SUB-TOTAL 4,030M’LANG NIS (2)

CIS (2)STW (3)

7,19122755

SUB-TOTAL 7,473PIKIT CIS (1)

SWIP (1)STW (5)

6617

178SUB-TOTAL 261

PRES. ROXAS CIS (6) 1,162SUB-TOTAL 1,162

ESTIMATED TOTAL IRRIGATED AREA 37,611 NIS: National Irrigation System CIS: Communal Irrigation System STW: Shallow Tube Well SWIP: Small Water Impounding Project

The seeming discrepancy between the irrigated areas reported by BAS in Table 3 (91,411 has) and the above total from NIA-PIO Cotabato (37,611 has) may be due to doubling of NIA data to cover 2 croppings plus areas that may have been irrigated but unbilled by NIA or IAs.

Postharvest Facilities

OPAg Cotabato lists some 3,336 postharvest facilities for rice and corn (Table 9). It can be noted that while the technologies for rice postharvest have already highly mechanized, there are only 17 mechanical driers servicing the top producing province of Mindanao. Even with a total of almost 1,300 multipurpose drying pavements (that can dry a high average of 70 sacks of paddy at a given time), plus the existing mechanical driers, such facilities are sorely wanting in effectively and efficiently servicing the more than 430,000MT of paddy the province produces in a year.

While the same list from OPAg Cotabato refers to some 321 rice milling facilities, a check with NFA Cotabato has only over a hundred of these in their roster. According to a staff in charge of monitoring these facilities, only 53 are operating at levels and quality acceptable to local and mainstream markets.

Table 9. Inventory of Existing Postharvest Facilities, 2008.

MUN

FARM LEVEL PHF DRYING FACILITIES STORAGE MILLING

FACILITIESTOTAL

THRESHERMULTIPURP

DRYING PAVEMENT

MECH DRIER

COLUMN DRIER

FLATBED DRIER WAREHOUSE RICE

MILL

RICE & CORN MILL

Alamada* 30 125 23 28 4 210Arakan* 14 56 1 20 39 130Magpet* 11 28 2 4 4 49Pigcawayan* 140 97 3 31 35 306Pikit* 37 98 18 19 172Pres Roxas* 91 68 19 20 198Tulunan* 226 148 6 1 46 73 500Aleosan* 35 96 1 36 26 194Carmen* 38 129 1 68 8Makilala* 34 94 9 6 4Matalam* 53 82 13Kidapawan** 2 47 13Antipas 32 63 17 29Kabacan 223 127 1 2 27M’lang 285 40 8 21Banisilan 0 1Libungan 0Midsayap 0TOTAL 1,251 1,298 9 5 3 337 321 12 3236

* - validated by barangay ** - lacks barangay validation Source: OPAg 2008 and BPHRE Inventory 2001

It is also worthwhile to note that while there are listed some 1,251 thresher units operating in the province, no report or record of highly efficient rice combines are in use. Again, this signifies the state of, and need for, modern mechanization in the province’s rice industry.

Market flow

Cotabato’s paddy is generally processed in the province’s mills or bought by traders and resold to the neighbouring provinces of Davao del Sur and Sultan Kudarat where these are processed into regular or well milled rice. The resulting rice output of the province and that of Davao del Sur that cannot be absorbed by their local markets find their way to the buyers and

trading centers of Davao City, while that of Sultan Kudarat flow to General Santos City. These have been confirmed by the NFA Provincial Manager and 3 major stakeholders of the rice industry in General Santos City. Likewise, results of buyer visits and interviews during Market Chain Study activities held for small rice farmers under the Sustainable Community Agroenterprise Livelihood for Economic Development (SCALED) Project of Kasilak Development Foundation, Inc. in April and May 2010 pointed to such market flow for the rice of Cotabato.

SOURCES.

Office of the Provincial Agriculturist – Cotabato National Food Authority – Cotabato Bureau of Agricultural Statistics National Statistical Coordination Board - National Statistics Office Provincial Planning and Development Office - Cotabato

REFERENCES.

Cotabato: Geography and Ethnohistory. The Tuna Country At The Southern Edge Of Mindanao: General Santos City, 1939-2000. Available at www.notredame gensan .org/GSCBK1.PDF.

Provincial, City and Municipal Profiles. National Statistical Coordination Board. Available at http://www.nscb.gov.ph/ru12/OVERVIEW/Cot_Prov.htm.

NSCB StatWatch. National Statistical Coordination Board. April 20, 2010. Available at http://www.nscb.gov.ph/ru12/swatch/2010/Provincial/SW1_10_Prov.pdf.

“About Us: Natural Resources”. Official Website of the Provincial Government of Cotabato. Available at http://www.cotabatoprov.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36&Itemid=12

Philippine Standard Geographic Code Interactive: North Cotabato.. March 31, 2010. Available at http://www.nscb.gov.ph/activestats/psgc/province.asp?provcode=124700000&regCode=12&regName=REGION+XII+%28Soccsksargen%29.