ECONOMY OF CARAGAThe Economy of Caraga Region is based on agri-aqua and forest products. The chief economic activities in the region include mining, logging, wood processing, agricultural crop production, fishery, metal working, food processing, footwear manufacturing in general and cement manufacturing in Surigao del Norte in particular.
Of the 682,892 employed population, roughly 61% or 416,000 are engaged in agriculture, fishery and forestry production. The remaining 39% are distributed as follows: 153,146 or 22.6% in services business; 56,217 or 8% in wholesale and retail, followed by manufacturing with 27,435, construction with 18,958, mining and quarrying with 5,801 and some 2,500 in electricity, gas and water services. The region has a total land area of 2,001,041 hectares, around 69 % of which are forest lands and 30 % are agricultural lands. The forestry sector plays significant role in the economy of the region in that major industries and major exports of the region lies in wood-processing production. Based on the 1990 census, an aggregate area of 483,936 hectares of 131,990 farms has been established in the region and are devoted mainly to permanent and cash crops. Eighty-three percent of the total cropland is planted with palay, corn, banana, coconut and rootcrops. There are also some 35,000 pastureland home to cattle; at the same time, significant quantity of swine, chicken, goat. duck and turkey abound in the region. It has high marine and aquaculture industry potentials. The two Surigao provinces, with its unspoiled and long stretches of fishing grounds, are major sources of high quality fish and other marine products. The area has also rich sources of inland fishery owing to its numerous bodies of water like lakes and rivers, most of which can be found in the two Agusan provinces. These bodies of water are found to be potential generators of power, which may supply power in the area and its neighboring regions. The region has estimated 3.5 billion metric tons of metallic and non-metallic mineral reserves. The nickel deposits in the Nonoc Island of Surigao City is considered the largest in Asia and the iron ore deposits in Surigao del Sur is considered the largest in the world.
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