Economy
Agriculture is the main source of economic livelihood. Basilan's major products include coconut (primarily copra), rubber, coffee, black pepper, and African palm oil. Other crops are palay, corn, cacao and cassava.
The Sulu and Celebes Seas provide fish such as tuna, mackerel, and sardines. Most of these are processed in canning factories in nearby Zamboanga City, General Santos City (the Philippines' tuna capital), and Navotas. The island’s waters also produce grouper, squid, octopus, and marlin, while fishponds supply milkfish, prawn and shrimp. In addition, seaweed is cultivated along some coastal areas.
The island of Omosmarata in Tuburan (now Mohammad Ajul) is listed among only 15 sites in the Philippines with commercially viable ocean thermal energy potential. The Philippines' ocean thermal resource area is 1000 square kilometers, based on the archipelagic nature of the country. Based on a study conducted by the Philippines Department of Energy, the potential capacity for this resource is estimated to be 265 million megawatts.
Likewise, the Basilan Strait is listed among only eight sites in the Philippines with commercially viable ocean tidal energy potential (along with Bohol/Talibon Strait, Basiao Channel, Surigao Strait, Gaboc Channel, Hinatuan Passage, San Bernardino Strait and San Juanico Strait).
Only the provinces of Basilan, Samar and Surigao have both high ocean thermal and ocean tidal energy potential. Basilan likewise has significant as yet underdeveloped mineral deposits, specifically, iron ore, gold, manganese, copper, and coal.
Alienable and disposable lands cover 862.249 square kilometres (332.916 sq mi), forest lands occupy 406.526 square kilometres (156.961 sq mi), 294.194 square kilometres (113.589 sq mi) are underused, 574.85 square kilometres (221.95 sq mi) are under forest cultivation, while 689.479 square kilometres (266.209 sq mi) are under agricultural cultivation.
Local products also include woven cloth and trinkets made by the Yakan tribe. Yakans use fibers from plants such as pineapple for their crafts. The weavers traditionally used extracts from leaves, roots and barks to dye their fibers. However, contact with U.S. Peace Corps workers and Christian Filipinos has influenced Yakan textile art. One influence is the introduction of chemical dyes. The museum of Lamitan displays the colorful and intricate traditional Yakan textiles and highlights of the traditional Yakan festival, Lami-lamihan.
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Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get “a good job,” but to perform well a certain work; and, even in a pecuniary sense, it would be economy for a town to pay its laborers so well that they would not feel that they were working for low ends, as for a livelihood merely, but for scientific, or even moral ends. Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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