Along with rice, they are essential as staples stored for consumption during the typhoon season when regular shipments from outside cannot be counted on. It also threatens to make the general population even more dependent than before on the canned goods and other imports that arrive in Batanes often at twice the Manila retail price, thus depleting twice as fast the extra income gained from crop conversion. In addition to garlic and root crops, many families grow some vegetables and fruits such as pineapple, bananas, papaya, jack-fruit, watermelon and even oranges. But although these fruits grow well in the islands, commercial production would be extremely risky , as the entire harvest could be so easily wiped out by just one of the many typhoons that strike every year. Furthermore, because of the heavy agricultural demands on the land, without sufficient replenishment of nutrients, the soil has become somewhat less productive.
People tell of yams that used to be the size of watermelons.
Supposedly the Bureau of Soils has taken steps to restore and maintain the land's fertility. Apart from the land being productive, the open seas are rich in marine resources . Proof of this are the many so-called Taiwanese junks, powerful modern trawlers plying the open waters day and night and reaping large catches. By stark comparison, the local fishermen of Batanes with their simple wooden boats and small nets are lucky to get even a few kilos which is a bare subsistence catch. Fishing is difficult for the locals as their small boats can safely navigate only in the channels between the islands.