X. Agricultural Products, Forest Resources, Minerals, and Other Industries
The Philippines are eminently an agricultural country. Agriculture is the principal source of the Islands’ wealth, and the bulk of the exports consists mostly of agricultural products.
Hectares under cultivation An estimate of the number of hectares under cultivation during the year 1922, shows the following:
| Hectares devoted to rice. | 1,661,430 |
| Hectares devoted to abaca. | 494,990 |
| Hectares devoted to sugar-cane. | 240,820 |
| Hectares devoted to coconuts. | 422,684 |
| Hectares devoted to corn. | 549,960 |
| Hectares devoted to tobacco. | 59,870 |
| Hectares devoted to maguey. | 27,670 |
| Hectares devoted to cacao. | 1,155 |
| Hectares devoted to coffee. | 882 |
| Total. | 3,459,461 |
This is only about 10 per cent of the total area of the Islands.
Extensive areas of agricultural lands which remain undeveloped are the Agusan Valley in eastern Mindanao; the Cotabato Valley in central Mindanao; sections of the plains of central Luzon and of the Cagayan Valley; the central plain of Panay and the meadowlands of Palawan, Samar, and Mindoro. There are also the coastal plains of Zamboanga, Mindanao, Leyte, and Negros.
The average area of farms in the Islands according to the Census of 1918 is 2.33 hectares, as against 3.47 hectares in 1903.
Farms owned by Filipinos Out of the 1,955,276 farms in the Islands today 1,946,580 or 96 per cent, are owned by Filipinos, 2,678 by Americans, 949 by Europeans, 1,612 by Asiatics, and 3,457 by other nationalities.
Exports THE PRINCIPAL CROPS.—The principal crops produced by the islands are rice, abaca (Manila hemp), coconut, sugar, and tobacco. All of these except rice are articles of export. The following table shows the respective values of these exports:
| Article | Value | |
| 1921 | 1922 | |
| Abaca (Manila hemp). | ₱25,969,385 | ₱39,081,829 |
| Coconut oil. | 32,103,036 | 31,468,971 |
| Copra. | 26,146,913 | 28,206,146 |
| Sugar. | 51,037,454 | 51,165,110 |
| Tobacco products. | 16,564,434 | 17,340,236 |
| Maguey. | 1,848,794 | 2,973,203 |
| Cordage. | 918,544 | 1,099,375 |
| Fruits and nuts. | 239,060 | 532,632 |
| Rubber, crude. | 25,700 | —— |
| Ilang-ilang oil. | 57,554 | 60,606 |