SOCIO-ECONOMIC FEATURES

Agriculture

Agriculture is the foundation of the economy of Passi City. About 85% of its total land area is devoted to agriculture. Major crops are rice, sugarcane, corn, pineapple, and other root crops. Livestock and poultry production is a thriving livelihood of the people with a total population of 68,946 heads of various animals grown. Water catchment basins have been developed into inland fishponds while the rivers abound with fish such as eel, catfish, and “dalag.”

Crops	Areas Planted	Production (m.t.)	Farmers Involved
1. Rice
	2,406.60	9,864.60	657
	7,060.86	25,419.00	3,806
	140.00	432.00	160
2. Sugarcane	3,387.00	17,180.50	880
3. Corn	1,202.00	3,396.24	880
4. Root crops	1.90	99.0	16
5. Pineapple	160.00	3,440.00	180

Source: City Agriculture's Office, 2005

Post harvest facilities available in the city include 8 rice and corn mills, 3 storage facilities, 7 cono, 56 kiskisan, 8 rubber rolls, 35 solar dryers, 1 mechanical dryer, 394 blower and 459 threshers. There are about 409 tractors and 48 power tillers.

Agro-industrial development is one of the planned strategies for the economic growth of Passi City. At present, small and medium scale agro-industries are beginning to develop in the city. These include sugar centrals, mills for grains and cereals, food processing facilities, livestock and poultry farms, and an agricultural market.

Integrated agro-forestry projects are being implemented in barangays Magdungao, Tagubong, Gemumua-Agahon, Dalicanan, Sablogon, Nueva Union, and Aglalana. A social industrial forest management agreement of 294 hectares of land has also been inked by the City Environment Office with Brgy. Agtambo.

Trade and Industry

Trading and commercial activities are concentrated in the Poblacion area. Banking and lending institutions, gasoline stations, pawnshops, telephone and cable services, drug stores, retail and general merchandising enterprises, rice and corn wholesalers and retailers, private shops and public markets are located in the Poblacion.

The strategic location of Passi City brought to its commercial centers buyers and sellers of goods from Roxas City, Jaro, Leganes, Iloilo City, Leon, Sta. Barbara, and San Enrique among others. The commercial activities regularly bring 200 transient merchants with their loads of fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural products to the city’s markets. Others sell their wares of textiles, shoes, electronic items, kitchen wares and appliances inside tents which are set up overnight and are dismantled as soon as market hours come to a close. The increase in commercial activities brought about an increased volume of waste during market days. As of the present, the city’s garbage truck collects waste from the markets once a day. The market administrators perceived this to be inadequate and suggested that the number of trips should be increased to 4 during market days and to 2 on the day after.

Passi City has been identified as the site of the People’s Industrial Enterprises (PIE) in the 4th district. Intermediate processing of indigenous raw materials is promoted in the city to improve its comparative advantage over other areas.

Health

To serve a projected population of 81,169 in 2005, the city has 1 district hospital with a total bed capacity of 25 persons. It has a city health office, 31 barangays health stations, 65 government day care centers, 1 nutrition center, 7 food for growth centers, and 10 private medical clinics. There are a total of 40 professional health practitioners, 36 midwives, and 436 barangay health workers. Infant mortality rate is 15 per 1,000 live births while maternal mortality is 2 per 1,000 live births. Of pre-schoolers weighed in 2005, 75.7 % are of normal weight, 23.1% registers from mildly to moderately and severely underweight.

Eighty percent (80%) of the households have access to level I water sources, 3% to level II and 10% to level III. The remaining households are using doubtful, probably unsafe water sources. Majority of the households, 86 %, have sanitary toilets.

Education

There are 34 elementary schools and 7 secondary schools in Passi City. The performance indicators of the education service for the school year 2005-2006 are presented in the table below.

Indicator	Elementary	Secondary
Participation rate	95.11	82.42
Survival rate	74.73	77.85
Retention rate	89.57	87.36
Repetition rate	9.52	6.29
Drop-out rate	3.89	9.58
Graduation rate	95.39	91.71
Completion rate	87.03	72.68
Teacher-pupil/student ratio	1:30	1:36
Classroom-pupil/student ratio	1.41	1.5
Textbook-pupil/student ratio	1:8	1:5

Transportation and Communication

Farm-to-market roads that connect the 51 barangays to the urban centers have been built in a few years time. There are a total of 223 kilometers of gravel road and kilometers of earth road. National roads that traverse the city from north to south consists of 0.40 of concrete roads, 19 kilometers of asphalt, and 15.6 of gravel materials. Of the provincial roads, 1.92 kilometers are concrete while 76.74 are gravel. Roads constructed by the city consist of 8 kilometers of concrete, 1 kilometer of asphalt, and 4 kilometers of mixed gravel and earth materials. There are a total of 243 bridges spanning the rivers and their tributaries.

The communication needs of Passi City residents are met by 5 landline and 5 mobile telephone companies. One cable station, 1 postal service, 10 radio transceivers, and 2 courier companies are also operating in the area.