PROFILE: ENVIRONMENTAL PROFILE

Natural Resources  

              Dapitan City has a total land area of 29,521 hectares. Of the total land area, 74.40% are utilized for various agricultural purposes. The rest are utilized for commercial, residential and other purposes. Table 3 shows the existing general land use of Dapitan City.  

              Classified alienable and disposable land area covers 17,397 hectares while public forest land area, including mangroves, swamps, marshes and foreshore total 7,267 hectares.  

Source: Office of the City Planning and Development Coordinator, Dapitan City 1998  

              The City has about 7,267 hectares (24.62% of total) of forest cover. The City has undertaken a 160.62 hectare reforestation project at Barangay Maria Cristina.  Mahogany and gemelina trees are grown in the area.  This project is intended for the preservation of the Ambogoc Watershed, one of the water sources of the city, and wildlife resources.  

            As to timberlands, the city has a total of 3,800 hectares. This includes the Integrated Social Forest, OISCA and the Maria Cristina would be-forested area.  

              Dapitan is situated near a major gold reserve such that the presence of metallic minerals like gold, silver, copper and quartz have also been detected within its jurisdiction. Non-metallic minerals like white clay and pebble aggregates also abound in Dapitan.  

              The City has a very long shoreline. Thirteen (13) of its fifty (50) barangays are situated along the coast.  Hence, fishing is the second source of livelihood of the people. There are about 3,430 marginal fishermen in the city who engage in municipal and commercial fishing using motorized and non-motorized bancas.  The seas within the territorial waters of the City abound with a bountiful supply of marine products. The fishes found in the area include sardines (tuloy), oceanic bonito, anchovies (bolinao), round scad, moon fish (bilong-bilong), halfbreaks (sawasid), yellow fin tuna, flying fish (barongoy), slip mouths, mackerel and herrings.  

              The other source of fish is the inland portion composed of brackishwater and freshwater in fishponds located in the Barangays of Maria Uray, Maria Cristina, Sinonoc, Sulangon and Polo. Brackishwater fishponds produce the milkfish (bangus) while freshwater and communal waters in creeks and rivers yield several species of fish. Developed fishponds in the area comprise 1,186.0011 hectares or 4% of the city’s total land area.  

              Other marine products are seaweeds and galladium (agar-agar) which can be found along the shorelines of the coastal barangays of Tag-olo, Guimputlan, Carang, Baylimango, Banbanan and Napu.  

            Dapitan has an agri-based surrounding. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood of most Dapitanons. More than three fourths of the total land area is arable. Field crops as well as plantation crops are known throughout the agricultural land area of Dapitan.  

            Coconut is the major plantation crop and copra the chief agricultural product of Dapitan making the City basically a coconut-producing community. It covers vast tracts of land estimated at 23,369. The average monthly production is 7,661,828 nuts and a total production of 91,941,945. The average monthly copra production is 1,838.91 metric tons or an annual production of 22,066.89 metric tons.  

            Rice and corn are also grown in Dapitan. The total land area devoted to them is 551 hectares of which 91 hectares are irrigated and 460 hectares are rainfed. On the other hand, total area cultivated to corn is 372 hectares.  

              Bananas also abound in the City usually intercropped under coconut trees. Cassava, peanuts and vegetables are raised in small quantities. At present, many farmers are beginning to engage in mango production.  

              Livestock and poultry production in Dapitan is minimal. There are no large-scale cattle ranches, piggeries and other forms of animal domestication and poultry for commercial purposes. Generally, they are raised for ”backyard” purposes.