Central Luzon’s Volume of Other Crops Production Dropped by -7.8 Percent

The volume of produced other crops in Central Luzon decreased from 1,106.2 thousand metric tons in 2023 to 1,019.5 thousand metric tons in 2024. This translates to a decline in production of 86.7 thousand metric tons. (Figure 1)

Contributing to the decline of the regional production were the recorded decreases from both Non-Food and Industrial Commercial Crops (NFFICs) and Fruits commodity groups at -17.3 percent and -7.2 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, vegetables production inched to 441.2 thousand metric tons in 2024 from 424.9 thousand metric tons in 2023 which is equivalent to 3.9 percent growth. (Figure 2)
 

Across the provinces in Central Luzon, Tarlac contributed the largest share at 32.8 percent of the total other crops production in the region in 2024. It was followed by Nueva Ecija which contributed more than a quarter or by 28.4 percent of the total produced other crops. Meanwhile, Bataan recorded the least share at 2.0 percent which is equivalent to 20.4 thousand metric tons. 
 

Of the 20 highlighted other crops in the region, 15 commodities registered decrements while five recorded increments in production. Sugarcane remained to be the top produced crop in the region at 337.7 thousand metric tons in 2024 constituting 33.1 percent of the total produced other crops in the region. This equates to -19.5 percent reduction in production as compared to its 419.5 thousand metric tons in 2023. Additionally, it also recorded the highest level of decrease in production among the highlighted commodities in Central Luzon.

On the other hand, Onion posted the highest increase in terms of level of production to 158.1 thousand metrics tons in 2024 from 138.0 thousand metric tons in 2023. This was followed by Sweet Potato and Gabi which had expansions of 0.86 thousand metric tons and 0.57 thousand metric tons, respectively. (Table 1)
 

Four out of the seven provinces in Central Luzon had recorded Sugarcane production in 2024. Tarlac contributed the largest segment at 71.9 percent share or 242.6 thousand metric tons to the total production in the region.

In terms of Onion production, Nueva Ecija contributed 93.7 percent to the total production in Central Luzon, while the remaining 6.3 percent was accounted from the remaining six provinces in the region.

All provinces in the region registered production of coconut in 2024 with a total of 87.3 thousand metric tons. Aurora remained to be the top producer of coconut in Central Luzon at 81.3 thousand metric tons accounting for 93.0 percent of the total regional production.

Banana production was highest in Bulacan contributing 36.1 percent to the total production in the region. On the other hand, Bataan had the least production of banana at 1.3 thousand metric tons (2.5%).

Mango production recorded the highest in Zambales at 15.0 thousand metric tons which accounted 30.5 percent of the total production in the region. Meanwhile, Aurora recorded the least produced mango at 0.1 thousand metric ton.

The production of sweet potato was recorded present across the provinces in the region in 2024. Tarlac contributed almost three-fourths or 73.9 percent to the total sweet potato production in Central Luzon.

In terms of tomato production, Nueva Ecija produced the most with a total of 22.2 thousand metric tons which constituted more than half or 61.9 percent of the total production in the region. This was followed by Tarlac at 4.4 thousand metric tons (Table 2)

ARLENE M. DIVINO
Regional Director 
PSA RSSO 03

Technical Notes

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) generates production-related statistics on crops other than palay and corn through the Crops Production Survey (CrPS).

The CrPS is a quarterly survey which aims to generate basic production statistics for crops other than palay and corn at the national and sub-national levels. The reference and enumeration periods by survey round are as follow:
 

Definition of Terms

Crop Production - The quantity produced and actually harvested for a particular crop during the reference period. It includes those measured but damaged, stolen, given away, consumed, given as harvesters’ share, and reserved. Excluded are those produced but not harvested for whatever reason/s.