8/3/2019 Notes on the Efforts to Eradicate Extreme Poverty in Zamboanga Del Norte

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Notes on the Efforts to Eradicate Extreme Poverty in Zamboanga del Norteby Edmundo Enderez

This article is intended to contribute to the on-going discussion and debate on the proper approaches

related to the goal of eradicating extreme poverty in coastal municipalities.

1. After the province of Zamboanga del Norte was founded in1952, the provincial government

under different administrations had been implementing development programs intended to eradicate

poverty. During the period 2003-2009, the improvement in poverty situation of the 3 provinces and 1 city

in the Zamboanga peninsula is presented in Figure 1 showing gradual but erratic decrease in poverty

incidence. Zamboanga del Nortes poverty incidence of 61.6% in 2009 is the highest not only in

Zamboanga peninsula but also throughout the country.

2. In order to easily understand the context of poverty, a simple illustration on the relationship of 4

politico-economic variables that centers on poverty has been drawn as shown in Figure 2. It shows that

underdevelopment breeds poverty in a situation in which either corruption or weak state prevail or the

tandem of the 2 prevail.

3. This paper will only focus on underdevelopment and poverty. In Zamboanga del Norte, there are

several programs that are being implemented by different stakeholders (government, NGOs and business)

as a continuing efforts to address poverty in the field of agriculture and fisheries. The programs are

formulated based on research data gathered through participatory and non-participatory research.

4. Presented herein are data on agriculture and fisheries that will explain (a) why the povertyincidence level in Zamboanga del Norte had not been significantly reduced and (b) marine fish catchvolume is generally on the decreasing trend.

5. Data and information on agriculture are presented as follows:

a. Available land area under A&D per person and per family - Figure 3 shows that Zamboanga

del Norte has relatively bigger A&D land area of 0.29 ha per person or 1.45 has per family as compared

with Zamboanga del Surs 0.24 ha/1.2 ha and Zamboanga Sibugays 0.18ha/0.9 ha. This means that

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if the land is equitably distributed, a family with more or less 1 ha of land will be living below poverty

level which further means that since land distribution is not equal, majority of the farming families will

really be subjected to harsh living conditions. In order to survive, farmers utilized for agricultural

purposes the production area of the forestland which is relatively bigger in Zamboanga del Norte.

But despite the fact that Zamboanga del Norte has bigger land area per person/family, its povertyincidence is still the highest in the peninsula which could be attributed to different factors one of which is

that it has more mountainous areas.

Figure 3. Available land area under A&D for every person and every family

b. Figure 4 shows that poverty incidence is relatively higher or 61% up in municipalities whose landarea are dominated by hilly and mountainous area. Lower poverty incidence of 0-50% prevails in

municipalities whose land area are dominated by lowlands.

Figure 4. Lowland areas and lower poverty incidence levels

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c. Figure 5 shows Zamboanga del Nortes volume of production of palay, corn and coconut from

2002 to 2006 were on increasing trend which contributed to the improvement in poverty incidence from

64.2% in 2003 to 59.5% in 2006. After 2006, the production had leveled off for palay and coconut but

declining for corn which led to a corresponding increase in poverty incidence to 61.6% in 2009.

Figure 5. Volume of production: palay, corn and coconut

6. Data and information on fisheries are as follows:

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a. The marine fish catch data of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) were processed into

graphical form to get clear information as shown in Figure 6. It shows that Zamboanga del Nortes

tmarine municipal fish catch (bulk of production) started to decline after 1990 as compared with

Zamboanga Citys marine commercial fish catch (bulk of production) which kept on increasing.

Figure 6. Comparison of marine fish catch in Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga City

b. In the case of Zamboanga City, significant increase in fish catch occurred during the years when

the El Nino phenomenon occurred. (1998, 2002-2003, 2005 and 2009-2010). Based on the fact that

Zamboanga del Norte waters is very rich in fisheries resources as compared with the other provinces and

cities in the peninsula, one can immediately sense that the declining catch of the municipal fishers of

Zamboanga del Norte is due to intrusion of big fishing boats (which are based in Zamboanga City) into

its municipal waters.

c. The El Nino phenomenon that occurred in 2005 and 2009-20010 is the main cause of upwelling

which brought incalculable mass of nutrients from the sea bottom water column towards the sea surface

water column that is made available for photosynthesis that produces primary food or phytoplanktons

which is the main food of sardine. During said years, sardine catch for both Zamboanga del Norte andZamboanga City were exceptionally high as shown in Figure 7.

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Figure 7. El Nino phenomenon and sardine catch

d. For Zamboanga del Norte, the municipal sardine catch appeared to have declined or just leveled

off from 11,471 m.t. in 2005 to 9,784 m.t. in 2010. The main reason is intrusion of big commercial

fishing boats in the municipal waters.

e. The BAS data on marine fish catch during the 1st 3 quarters of 2011 showed lower catch

volume as compared with those of 2010 and it is expected that the 4th quarter catch will

also be lower than that of the previous year. This means that the marine fish catch volume will be lower

than that of 2010.

f. It must be noted that the declining trend in marine fish catch starting after the occurrence of theEl Nino phenomenon is not only due to the absence of upwelling but also to the occurrence of overfishing

and reduction in the fish carrying capacity of the sea. In fact, even during upwelling periods whensardine catch is significantly higher certain major species of fish caught have been observed to have

experienced overfishing in the Zamboanga peninsula as shown by the significant decline in catch volume

between 2005 and 2010. These are as follows: round scad, yellowfin, slipmouth, and eastern little tuna

and skipjack as shown in Figure 8.

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Figure 8. Common species of fish caught (2005-2010)

g. Total sardine catch for both Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga City have increased from

129,975 m.t. in 2005 to 212,510 m.t. in 2010, but then sardine is considered overfished based on the

initial study of BFAR which then declared the banning of catching sardine during the peak spawning

months or from Dec 1 to March 1. The increasing catch volume of sardine is due to high fishing pressure

resulting to the decreasing average size of catch which is measured through its Relative Size (RS) with

value of 0.5 as cut-off point which means that the fish size is half of its maximum length at infinity (see

Figure 9). The RS value of less than 0.5 or less than 14 cm means that sardine is heavily exploited . But

a more scientific study which is the length-frequency analysis and other biological study related to the

specie will be done to back up the RS approach in determining the level of exploitation of the specie.

Figure 9. RS of sardine at 0.5 of max.length

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h. The value of marine fish catch in Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga City is presented in

Figure 10. The total marine fish catch in Zamboanga del Norte in 2010 is 40.264 million kgs valued at

P1.681 B or P41 per kg. Its municipal sardine catch of 9.784 million kgs is valued at P791 M or P19 per

kg. If fishery law enforcement will become effective in preventing intrusion of big commercial fishing

boats in the municipal waters, then fish catch in Zamboanga del Norte can be much higher than thepresent catch.

Figure 10. Value of marine fish catch (based on BAS data)

8. Data on 2007 income of the coastal municipalities are presented in Figure 11. Dapitan has the

highest income of P4,000 per person followed by Dipolog Citys P2,960, Sibucos P2,270, Sirawais and

Gutalacs P1,870. Low-income municipalities will have difficulty in providing fund allocation forfishery law enforcement. There are municipalities like Sindangan, Salug, Liloy and Labason which have

relatively lower poverty incidence but income per person is much lower than those municipalities like

Baliguian and Gutalac with very high poverty incidence. Municipalities surrounding Sindangan Bay thatinclude Sindangan, Liloy and Salug and possibly Labason should enhance their income generation

program to be able to provide enough support to the protection and management of Sindangan Bay which

is the richest fishing ground in the whole of Zamboanga del Norte.

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Figure 11. Income of the coastal municipalities

9. Possible course of actions: In order to significantly reduce poverty in Zamboanga del Norte,

there is a need to fully develop the agriculture (and fisheries) sector. The increase in agricultural (and

fisheries) production on a sustainable basis will be needed to supply the raw material needs of the would-

be flourishing industrial factories. In the field of fisheries, emphasis should be as follows:

a. Fishery regulatory measures relative to sardine should go beyond the seasonal fishing ban.

Since Zamboanga City commercial fishers get more or less 90% of total sardine catch in the peninsula,

there is a need to (1) regulate commercial fishing on sardine based on its relative size and rate of

exploitation which together determine the fishing pressure or extent of overfishing and (2) subject the

commercial sardine catch to taxation: value of sardine catch by commercial fishers of Zamboanga City in2010 is valued at P 3.96 B (197,015 m.t. at P20/kg) which can be taxed at 1% or P39.6 M or P198 M at

5%. To get the tax share for Zamboanga del Norte, there is a need to determine the actual volume ofsardine caught in the waters of Zamboanga del Norte. The revenue generated from sardine catch taxation

can be utilized to augment existing funds for CRM work and livelihood diversification projects.

b. Fish catch data on volume and value from BAS and other research institutions should bedisseminated in fishing communities, particularly the fishers, for them to appreciate, understand and serve

as basis in formulating and taking precautionary measures relative to fisheries management. An example

is the significant reduction in the volume of catch between 2005-2010 of round scad, yellowfin,

slipmouth, eastern little tuna and skipjack which could indicate the overfished status of said species of

fish. What is needed is information on the Relative Size which if found to be less than 0.5 could bolster

the declaration of overfishing. Of course, the more scientific approach which is the length-frequencyanalysis that generates data on rate of exploitation, among others, could corroborate the two data.

c. Zamboanga del Norte fisherfolk should be able to form a strong organization whose leaders are

developed to become committed to take the lead in CRM work (particularly fishery law enforcement) and

assume management role in livelihood diversification projects. The leaders should be able to stand as

good volunteer leaders who will ensure the internalization of the integration of CRM and economic work.