Cotabato Province is considered as Mindanao’s food basket. It is a major producer of cereals – it ranks among the top ten producers nationwide of rice and corn. The province is also a major source of tropical fruits, vegetables, sugarcane, coconut, coffee, freshwater fish and livestock.

A major contributor to the robust agricultural economy of the province is the high value crops sector which includes sugarcane, coconut, rubber, oil palm which is currently growing and banana.

Banana is a tropical plant that grows in all regions in the Philippines. It is not seasonal and bears fruit at any time of the year, making it the table fruit of the country. This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it the perfect food to beat high blood pressure. The US Food and Drug Administration noted the many medicinal uses of banana and recognizes its ability to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

The most important shift in Cotabato’s agricultural direction occurred with the executive and the legislative departments agreeing that the province must have a market-oriented agriculture. This spurred the growth of the banana industry in Cotabato, making it one of the leading investments in the province, opening more job opportunities through the major industry investors - DOLE-Stanfilco which stands as the biggest player, Lapanday Global Fruits, and AJMR. This has provided people in the investment areas a more stable source of income and better living conditions.

These investments have also ushered in added benefits- improvement of road networks, conversion of grasslands into productive areas, increase of micro-business establishments in the investment areas thus improving the quality of life of residents and increased real property tax collection.

The positive experience of a number of LGUs with the expanding Cavendish banana industry in the province shows that focusing on agricultural commodities that are highly marketable and globally in demand could boost local development even further. Presently, Cotabato province is harvesting Lakatan with 24MT(metric tons)/ha/yr, Cardava with 30MT(metric tons)/ha/yr, and Cavendish with 40MT(metric tons)/ha/yr.

Cotabato province has 13,756.45 hectares planted with bearing banana trees while 1,031.25 hectares are planted with non-bearing. Overall, 14,787.7 hectares in the province are occupied by Banana Plantations.

AVERAGE PRODUCTION

LAKATAN          24 MT/HA/YR

CARDAVA         30 MT/HA/YR

CAVENDISH     40 MT/HA/YR

DENSITY OF PLANTING     1200 - 1600 HILLS PER HECTARE

The banana industry also opened opportunities for investments in the areas of agricultural technology and planting material development especially in the area of tissue culture.  In the year 2007,  the Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhance Fund (ACEF) approved a P15-million financial assistance to RC Agribusiness Center for expansion and modernization of its banana tissue culture production and marketing project.

Over the past years, Cotabato has graduated from being a basket case to one of the Philippines most vibrant economies. In 2006, Cotabato Province ranked 39th among the country’s progressive provinces, based on the result on poverty incidence conducted by the National Statistics Coordination Board.

Cotabato is making a mark as a province that can offer a positive investment climate and a sound business opportunity to those who choose to put their money here.