Rice

In Bgys. Lucio Laurel, Balete, Papandungin, Malayong, Kawit and G. Antonino are situated the biggest land areas devoted to rice production. These account for about 53 percent of the total rice fields in the municipality. A large-scope irrigation project in Lucio Laurel is set to commence in the very near future.

In 1999, Gloria contributed 15,431.81 MT of rice or about four percent of total rice produced in the province of Oriental Mindoro (Table 4.3). Gloria’s rice lands yielded about 3.70 MT of rice per hectare. The figure was quite low compared to Pinamalayan, which had a total of 4.82 MT/ha. Due to the difficulties that farmers have encountered in rice production, concerns have been raised regarding the insufficiency of irrigation and other facilities serving the agriculture sector of the municipality. The most popular rice variety being grown is PSBRc 18 because of its resistance to tungro. About 90 percent of the farmers are In 1999, Gloria contributed 15,431.81 MT of rice or about four percent of total rice produced in the province of Oriental Mindoro (Table 4.3). Gloria’s rice lands yielded about 3.70 MT of rice per hectare. The figure was quite low compared to Pinamalayan, which had a total of 4.82 MT/ha. Due to the difficulties that farmers have encountered in rice production, concerns have been raised regarding the insufficiency of irrigation and other facilities serving the agriculture sector of the municipality. The most popular rice variety being grown is PSBRc 18 because of its resistance to tungro.

Most rice farmers resort to borrowing from input suppliers and trader to finance their farm operations at six to seven percent interests per month. In the past, some farmers availed of the Plant Now Pay Later program of the government. However the repayment rate is a dismal 25 percent. During peak harvests, the farmers receive P8.00 to P8.30 per kilogram of dried palay and P7.30 for wet palay. The surplus rice productions of Gloria are distributed in Metro Manila, Batangas, Marinduque and Romblon.

Corn

The biggest white corn producing barangay is Barangay Sta. Maria. It has a total of 15 ha. of land devoted to corn. The average productivity per hectare per season is 0.875 MT/ha. for yellow corn and 0.94 MT/ha. for white corn.

Banana

Barangays Banus, Manguyang, and Malayong are the major banana producing areas of Gloria (about 64 percent of total municipal land area planted to bananas). Average yield of bananas is 2.46 MT/ha. Approximately 80 percent of bananas grown are of the saba variety. The balance of 20 percent are distributed to the production of lakatan, latundan and other minor varieties. The main market for the bananas of Gloria is the Divisoria market. Most banana growers know the Divisoria price of banana because of modern telecommunications technology. The saba variety fetches a price of P45 to P65 per 100 pieces, while table bananas receives a premium of P10.

Calamansi

The major calamansi producing barangays are Manguyang, Malamig, Banus, Maligaya, Mirayan, Banutan, and Papandungin (79 percent of total calamansi area). The average productivity is 4.73 MT/ha. per year.

Root Crops

A total of 112.258 hectares were planted to various rootcrops in 1999. Around 38 percent (42.721 hectares) were devoted to cassava, 35 percent (39.114 hectares) to camote, 15 percent (16.983 hectares) to gabi, and 12 percent (2.85 hectares) to tugui. The production performance of the various crops are very low – 3.45MT/ha. for cassava, 3.28 MT/ha. for camote, 4.5 MT/ha. for ubi, 5.4 MT/ha. for tugui, and 1.980 MT/ha. for gabi.

Spices

Ginger is the most predominant spice crop grown by farmers especially in Barangay Manguyang which constitutes 93 percent (or 13 hectares) of the total area planted to spices. The other minor spices grown are garlic and onion. Average yield per hectare of the three spice crops is very low – 3.15 MT/ha. for ginger, 3 MT/ha. for garlic, and 3 MT/ha. for onion.

Industrial Crops

The major industrial crop of Gloria is coconut. Around 3,583 hectares are currently devoted to coconut production. With a gross volume of 5,374.50 MT production, the yield per hectare is relatively high at 1.5 MT of copra per year compared to the national average of 1.0 MT/ha.
The area planted to other industrial crops is very small – 4.667 hectares of coffee, 3.578 hectares for cacao and 0.275 for sugarcane. Like most other crops, the productivity is very low. Coffee production per hectare is a measly 0.5 MT, 1.18 MT for cacao, and 0.09 MT for sugarcane.

Vegetables

Major vegetables grown in Gloria in terms of land area are: mungbean, ampalaya, squash, peanut and eggplant. Total area devoted to these vegetable crops is 116.76 hectares. The productivity of these crops is also very low.