The 2022 Census of Agriculture and Fisheries (CAF) recorded 1,170,680 individuals aged 18 and above who were members of households with at least one agricultural operator from 01 January to 31 December 2022 referred to as agricultural population. Out of the total agricultural population, 610,627 or 52.2 percent are males, while 560,053 or 47.8 percent are females. (Table 1)

    Among five provinces and one highly urbanized city (HUC) in the region, Davao del Sur had the highest agricultural population 18 years old and over recorded at 299,661 individuals. This was followed by Davao de Oro at 230,609 and Davao del Norte at 185,895 individuals. Meanwhile, Davao Oriental had the lowest agricultural population at 150,817.
 

Agricultural Population with Ownership or Secure Rights over Agricultural Land

    The 2022 CAF collected data on Sustainable Development Goals 5a.1 to determine the proportion of agricultural population with legally recognized documents of ownership of agricultural land or the right to sell it or the right to bequeath it over the total agricultural population.

Of the total agricultural population in the region, individuals who reported owning or having secure rights over their agricultural land accounted for 25.3 percent or 296,723. Of this, 210,428 or 70.9 percent are males, while 86,295 or 29.1 percent are females. (Table 2)
 

    Across provinces and HUC, the province of Davao de Oro stood out with the highest proportion of its agricultural population 18 years old and over (33.2%) holding ownership or secure rights over agricultural land. This was followed by City of Davao (26.8%) and Davao Oriental (24.7%). Davao Occidental had the lowest proportions of their agricultural population with secure rights over agricultural land at 21.0 percent. 

    Among male agricultural population, 34.5 percent hold secure rights over agricultural land. Meanwhile, only 15.4 percent of the female agricultural population have ownership or secure rights. This highlights a significant gender disparity, with women being 19.1 percentage points less than men to own or have secure rights to agricultural 
 

    Further, males significantly outnumber females across provinces and HUC in the region in having ownership or secure rights over agricultural land. Among females, Davao de Oro recorded the highest proportion of agricultural landowners and right bearers at 19.7 percent, followed by Davao Occidental at 16.8 percent, and City of Davao at 15.4 percent. 

    On the other hand, Davao Oriental (11.7%) and Davao del Sur (13.9%) had the lowest proportions of agricultural land ownership among the female agricultural population in the region. (Figure 1)
 

During the same reference period, 125,710 of the agricultural population aged 18 and over reported full ownership of their agricultural land, meaning they held a formal title of ownership. Of these, 85,033 (67.6%) were males, while 40,677 (32.4%) were females. Davao Occidental led in female full ownership of agricultural land, with 38.6 percent, followed by Davao de Oro and Davao del Sur with 33.7 percent and 32.9 percent, respectively. (Table 4)
 

On the other hand, 115,512 individuals had owner-like possession over agricultural land, comprising of 81,457 (70.5%) males and 34,055 (29.5%) females. Davao Occidental also topped the female owner-like possession over agricultural land at 38.4 percent. This was followed by Davao del Sur (31.4%) and Davao de Oro (29.9%). (Table 5)

The results are based on the 2022 CAF conducted among members of the agricultural households that operated agricultural activities from 01 January to 31 December 2022. Household interviews for the 2022 CAF were conducted from September to November 2023.

APPROVED FOR RELEASE:

RANDOLPH ANTHONY B. GALES
(Chief Statistical Specialist)
Officer-In-Charge
Regional Statistical Services Office 11

Technical Notes

Introduction

            The Census of Agriculture and Fisheries (CAF) is a large-scale government undertaking, geared towards the collection and compilation of basic information on the agriculture and fishery sectors in the Philippines. Over the years, the CAF has been a source of comprehensive statistics on agriculture for the use of the general public, government, business industry, research and academic institutions.

            The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) conducted the 2022 CAF among households and non-household entities that operated agriculture, aquaculture, and fishing activities from 01 January to 31 December 2022. Household and barangay interviews for the 2022 CAF were conducted in September 2023, while non-household interviews were conducted in May 2023.

            The 2022 CAF was the seventh in a series of decennial agricultural census and the sixth in the decennial census of fisheries in the country since the first census in 1903. It was designed to collect the structural characteristics of the agricultural and fishery sectors in the country.

            The Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC), as of December 2022 was used to disaggregate geographic levels of the 2022 CAF.

Data Limitation

            The statistics presented in this report were based on the information provided by the respondent or any responsible household member who may provide accurate answers to the questions and give correct information about the agricultural activities operated during the reference period.

            Likewise, the statistics presented are based on responses from all households in 16,020 sample barangays in the country, which represent about 38 percent of the 42,046 total barangays in the country as of December 2022.

            The data referring to agricultural holdings/farms in this report were tabulated according to the agricultural holder’s/operator’s residence, while data referring to holding/farm parcels were tabulated according to their geographic location.

Reference Period

            All households in the sample barangay were listed and interviewed to determine the presence of household members who were operators – those who managed or operated crops, livestock/poultry and/or insects/worms, aquaculture, and/or fishing activity – during the period 01 January to 31 December 2022. The identified operators were interviewed to collect data on the basic characteristics of their agricultural, aquaculture, and/or fishing activities using the Core Questionnaires. The reference period for household characteristics and inventory of livestock and poultry is 01 September 2023.

            Likewise, all non-household entities with crop farm, livestock and poultry farm (including culturing of insects/worms), aquaculture operation, and fishing operation during the reference period 01 January to 31 December 2022 and have an economic value were also covered in 2022 CAF, which was a rider to the 2023 Updating of the List of Establishments (2023 ULE). They were asked to accomplish the 2022 CAF non-household questionnaires to collect data on the details of their agricultural, aquaculture, and fishing activities. These include the farm and fisheries operations for commercial, personal consumption, and research purposes.

            Moreover, for barangay interviews, the Punong Barangay or acting Punong Barangays or any incumbent barangay official was interviewed to gather information on the presence/availability of facilities, input dealers, and service providers related to agriculture, aquaculture, and fisheries in all barangays (including non-sample barangays).

Definition of Terms and Concepts

Household

A household is a social unit consisting of a person living alone or a group of persons who sleep in the same housing unit and have a common arrangement in the preparation and consumption of food.

Agricultural Operator

An agricultural holder/operator is a civil or juridical person who/that exercises management control over the agricultural operation of a holding/farm and takes major decisions regarding resource use. He/she has technical and economic responsibility for the farm and may undertake all responsibilities directly, that is, he/she operates the agricultural farm or delegates responsibilities related to day-to-day work management to a hired manager. Economic responsibility means making major decisions in using the finances in operating the farm.

An agricultural operator could be the owner or tenant/lessee of the farm who is solely responsible for making the major decisions of the operation of the agricultural farm, including the management and supervision of hired labor. 

Meanwhile, a person hired to supervise the day-to-day activities on the farm owned by another household or by a non-household is NOT a CROP FARM OPERATOR for the 2022 CAF. He/she is called a hired manager.

Agricultural Holding/Farm

An agricultural holding/farm is any piece or pieces of land used wholly or partly for any agricultural activity such as growing of crops, tending of livestock/poultry and other agricultural activities and operated as one technical unit by one person alone or with others regardless of title, legal form, size or location. An agricultural holding/farm operated as one technical unit means that the piece/s of land is/are operated under single management and that the financial resources needed for the operation of the agricultural holding/farm come from the said management. Generally, an agricultural holding/farm operated as one technical unit has the same factors of production such as land, labor, farm structures, machinery, work animals, etc. Single management means one individual or household or jointly by two or more individuals or households or by a juridical person such as a corporation, cooperative or government agency operates and manages the agricultural holding/farm.

The characteristics of all holding/farms reported by agricultural operators were collected, regardless of the size of the agricultural farm.

Parcel

A parcel is one contiguous piece of land under one form of tenure without regard to land use. Both the contiguity and one form of tenure conditions should be met for a piece of land to be classified as one parcel.

“Contiguous” means that the piece of land is not separated by natural or manmade boundaries. A parcel may be surrounded by other lands, water, road, forest or other features that are not part of the farm under different land tenure.

Examples of natural boundaries are river, dike, lake, mountain, forest, and any physical features of the land that are not part of the farm. Meanwhile, examples of manmade boundaries are road, political boundaries (e.g., barangay, municipal, and provincial borders), houses, irrigation canal, and any manmade structures that are not part of the farm.

Tenure Status of the Parcel

It is the right under which a parcel is held or operated. A farm may be operated under a single form of tenure or under more than one form, in which case each form of tenure must be reported separately by parcel. A parcel may have any of the following tenure status: fully owned, owner-like possession, tenanted, leased/rented, rent-free, held under Certificate of Land Transfer (CLT), held under Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT)/Certificate of Ancestral Land Title (CALT), held under Community-Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA), Certificate of Stewardship Agreement (CSA)/Certificate of Stewardship Contract (CSC), and other tenure status.

Physical Area of the Parcel

Physical area of the parcel refers to the size or actual measurement of the parcel.

Legal Status of the Agricultural Operator

This refers to the form of organization under which the agricultural activity is undertaken. An agricultural farm may be operated by a single management, which is any of the following: individual/sole proprietorship, partnership without formal and written agreement (jointly with one or more than one household), partnership with formal and written agreement (not registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission), and other legal status (includes tribes, clans, and others).

 Main Use of the Parcel

This refers to the main use of the land parcel such as growing crops, raising livestock or cultivating/culturing fish, and other agricultural activities carried out on the parcel making up the holding with the intention of obtaining products and/or benefits. The categories for the main use of the parcel are as follows: under temporary crops, under permanent crops, under temporary and permanent crops, temporarily fallow, under temporary meadows and pastures, under permanent meadows and pastures, covered with wood and forest, under livestock and poultry raising, homelot, under aquaculture, public land, and other land use.