Municipality of Dumangas: The Philippines’ Agro-Met Pilot Area

GEOGRAPHY. Dumangas is generally plain with few hills, namely. Matagsing Hill at Barangays Ermita and Sulañgan, Ermita Hill at Barangay Ermita, Binaobao Hill at Barangay Sulañgan and Elihan Hill at Barangay Rosario.  There are seven rivers traversing the town.  These rivers are:  Dumangas River, which traverses the central portion of the Municipality; Barasan, Agdarupan, Paloc, Talusan, Sulañgan and Linao River.  The Linao river contains fresh water source while the rest are brackish.  The Municipality lies at the tail-end of one of the biggest rivers in the Province of Iloilo, the Jalaur River. This river is the main source of irrigation water for the Municipalities of Dingle, Pototan, Barotac Nuevo and Dumangas. 

POPULATION. Dumangas is composed of 45 barangays, 17 of which are coastal and 39 are farming. Its coastline is 21.8 km. Total land area is 12,870.8 has with 56, 291 people inhibiting and 11,262 households. 

CLIMATE. Dumangas has a monsoonal climate, which is divided into two pronounced seasons; dry season from November to April and wet during the rest of the year, with a maximum rain period from June to October.  The dry season coincides with the northeast monsoon where the air coming from the northeast is considerably dried up after crossing the high mountains of the Bicol Region, Samar and Leyte, leaving little rain for the Province of Iloilo.  The southwest monsoon brings with it moist air which gives off much rain.  Mean annual temperature is 27⁰ C, which is the same with the entire Philippines.  The hottest mean temperature is 28.3⁰C.  The average yearly rainfall is about 1.938.7 mm.

SOIL TYPE. The type of soil in the Municipality are clay loam, hydrosol and sandy loam, however, the land is generally arable, which is suited best for agriculture.

MINERAL RESOURCES. Minerals such as sand and limestone (white rocks) are in abundant supply in the Municipality.  Sand exists in quite large quantity in Barangay Balabag at the bed of the Jalaur River and limestone abounds plentifully at the Municipality’s different hills.

LAND USE. As to the existing General Land Use distribution of the Municipality, the following is the corresponding land use distribution: