Calabarzon / Mimaropa

PROFILE

Batangas l Cavite l Laguna l Marinduque l Occidental Mindoro l Oriental Mindoro l Palawan l Quezon l Rizal l Romblon

--- OCCIDENTAL MINDORO ---

Physical Profile:

Occidental Mindoro is a province located in the MIMAROPA Region (Region 4-B) in Luzon. It is the “Home of the Indigenous Mangyans”. Its capital is Mamburao that occupies the western half of the island of Mindoro. It is bounded on the west by Apo East Pass, on the south by the Mindoro Strait, on the eastern half by the Oriental Mindoro province, on the west by the South China Sea, the southwest by Palawan, and on the north across Mindoro Strait and Batangas province which is separated by the Verde Island passage.

The province comprises 11 municipalities with 164 barangays, under two (2) legislative districts. Its total land area is 587,985 hectares. The alienable and disposable area is about 156,000 hectares, which is 2.66% of the country land area or 21.46% of the MIMAROPA Region.

Agricultural Profile:

Occidental Mindoro is an agricultural area devoted for food production. Its basic industry is rice production (Oryza sativa culture), a Philippine staple crop, which is a source of seasonal employment of almost 80% of its population, including children.

Due to the crop’s dependence on water, wetland and lowland rice are cultivated during the monsoon season, from July (planting season) to October (harvest season). Non-water intensive crops that require longer periodicity, such as tobacco, onions, garlic and vegetables, are grown during the dry season (November to May).

Rice, corn, onions, garlic, fishes (wild and cultured) and salt are some of the significant agricultural produce in exportable quantities. Crops like mangoes, cashew nuts, cooking bananas (saba) and some other fruits are grown in the uplands, as well as peanuts, cassava, sweet potatoes, ginger to name a few are among its minor cultivars.

Palay and corn are the major crops of Occidental Mindoro. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), other top crops in the province in 2018 based on volume of production are onion, coconut, sweet potato, banana, and papaya.

Palay has the largest volume of production in the province with a total of 374,223 metric tons in 2018.Among all the major crops produced, papaya has the highest yield in Occidental Mindoro, which is 20.41 metric tons per hectare.

Based on the PSA data as of July 1, 2019, the inventory of major livestock and poultry in Occidental Mindoro for backyard and commercial purposes. Swine, having 53,307 heads is considered as the greatest number of heads among all the livestock listed. On the other hand, chicken, which is classified into broiler, layer, and native/improved, has the greatest total number yielding with 645,139 heads compared to duck which has only 48,553 heads both for backyard and commercial purposes.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION ACCOUNTS

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority