Considered as the rice granary of the Philippines, Nueva Ecija is a landlocked province located at the interior of Central Luzon. It is bounded on the north by Nueva Vizcaya and Pangasinan, on the east by Aurora, on the south by Bulacan and Pampanga, and on the west by Tarlac. The eastern side of the province is mountainous while the rest is part of the vast Central Plain of Luzon. Seasons are not very pronounced in the mountainous areas but two pronounced seasons are experienced in the lowlands: dry from November to April and wet during the rest of the year.

Nueva Ecija Provincial Capitol

Majority of the Population are Ilocanos who reside mostly in the northern part of the province and Tagalogs who occupy most of the southern part. There is also a sizable number of Kapampangans in the province.

1. Francisco M. Fronda - 1983 National Scientist in agriculture (poultry science)
2. Felipe Padilla De Leon - 1997 National Artist for music
3. Jason Abalos - Movie and television actor
4. Paolo Ballesteros - Movie and television actor
5. Ryza cenon - Movie and television actress
6. Kathryn Bernardo - Movie and television actress

Agricultural production of Nueva Ecija in 2007 is as follows (figure in thousand metric tons, rank among 79 provinces)

Animal inventory of Nueva Ecija in 2007 are as follows (figure in thousand, rank among 79 provinces)

Other products are high value commercial crops such as onion, garlic, and sorghums. The military reservation in Fort Magsaysay has a showcase jatropha plantation. Manufacturing in the province are mostly small scale enterprises dealing with rice and corn milling, furniture and automotive, food processing, hollow block making, and handicrafts. Lately, however, saw the emergence of footwear manufacturing particularly slippers and sandals especially in the town of San Leonardo. The Pantabangan Dam supplies irrigation water to most of the farmlands of the province aside from generating electricity. As of 2006, there were 140 banks operating in the province with a total deposits of 20.5 billion pesos.

As the largest producer of rice, Nueva Ecija still have large tracts of land that can be devoted to the production of high value crops such as malunggay, sorghums, fruits and vegetables. Investors can then be attracted to establish factories for fruit and vegetable canning, meat processing, and other food processing facilities. As a gateway to Auro Province and to Cagayan Valley Region, the province is a strategic location for distribution centers. Light manufacturing industries supportive of agriculture such as feed milling, fertilizer production and farm implements manufacturing can be put up in the province.

See List of Nueva Ecija Municipalities and Cities

1. Minalungao National Park in General Tinio
2. Rizal Hot Spring
3. Palaspas Falls - San Jose City
4. Pantabangan Dam

Capitol photo credit to skyscrapercity.com

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