TOINKZ!: Ailing Abaca Industry - The working secretary Manny Piñol

P100-M rehab fund

AILING ABACA INDUSTRY
GETS NEEDED SUPPORT

By Manny Piñol

Not very many people are aware of this but Abaca, the source of the strongest natural fiber the world has ever known, is a plant originally found only in the Philippines.

Also called Manila Hemp, Abaca has been a major rural industry earning for poor farmers hundreds of millions of pesos especially in the areas of Bicol, Samar, Leyte, Panay, Sulu, Zamboanga, Caraga, Davao and Cotabato areas.

Abaca was as profitable as a business before World War II that huge Japanese companies invested in Davao City and made it the Manila Hemp capital of the country.

Today, two other countries which got their Abaca planting materials from the Philippines are developing their own fiber industry using our very own native Abaca - Ecuador and Costa Rica.

The strong fiber of Abaca makes it an ideal source of fiber and pulp used for the huge ropes for boats and big vessels, security paper and paper money, tea bags, handicraft item, car parts and many more.

For a while, the shipping industry shifted to the use of plastic ropes but there are accounts that plastic ropes are not as reliable as the ropes made out of natural Abaca fiber.

There is an increased demand now for Abaca but the problem is the industry collapsed in the major areas which used to produce it, specifically Leyte, Samar and Bicol because of a disease called "Bunchy Top."

"Bunchy Top" is a vector-transmitted disease in Abaca and bananas which results in the stunted growth of the plants and brittle fibers.

On Thursday, July 14, almost two months after I visited the town of Sogod, Southern Leyte during the first leg of my Biyaheng Bukid, I went back to the town and met with the Abaca farmers and other stakeholders in the first ever forum to address the problems of the industry.

I brought with me officials of the Philippine Fiber Development Authority (PHILFIDA), an under-funded and understaffed agency under the Dept. of Agriculture, and the officials of companies interested in buying as much as 140,000 metric tons of Abaca fiber every year.

It was a heartwarming and beautiful experience for me seeing Abaca farmers, some of them coming from the nearby island-province of Biliran.

I heard of stories and tales of how the ignored and neglected Abaca was able to give them a better life and helped send their children to school during its heydays.

When I told them that the Abaca industry would be revived and rehabilitated under the administration of President Rody Duterte, they all broke into a wild applause.

Southern Leyte, by the way, is the birthplace of President Duterte. He was born in the town of Maasin, which is now a city.

So what will be done to the Abaca industry in Southern Leyte?

1. An initial rehabilitation fund of P100-M will be provided by the Dept. of Agriculture to the local government of Sogod, Southern Leyte which would lead the rehabilitation of the industry.

The money will be used in establishing an Abaca nursery of about 2,000 hectares using healthy and vigorous local variety called "Inusa."

A massive education and information campaign will also be conducted to provide the farmers the proper technology to manage their Abaca farms.

2. A team of banana disease experts from Mindanao, led by Dr. Remy Baltazar, a former official of multi-national companies involved in the banana industry and former professor of the University of Southern Mindanao, will arrive in Sogod on August 1 to start addressing the "Bunchy Top" problem.

I personally talked to Dr. Baltazar in my farm in Kidapawan City last Sunday and convinced him to get out of retirement and render service to the country.

He readily accepted the challenge and my request for him to form a team of banana disease experts and proceed to Southern Leyte as soon as possible.

The team of banana disease experts will also educate the Abaca farmers on how to handle the Bunchy Top disease and other plant health and nutrition problems.

3. A company owned by Dennis Villareal of Pulp Specialties who personally attended the forum along with Albert Fenix and two others, committed to buy the Abaca produce of the region.

Villareal said that his company alone needs about 100,000 metric tons every year for their customers abroad who have long been asking for more supply of the Manila Hemp.

Over the next five years of the Duterte Presidency, the Abaca industry will be rehabilitated and expanded targeting a total area of 200,000 hectares.

When realized that would mean an annual income of about P3-B for the Abaca farmers alone, an amount which would be more than enough to send their children to school once again.

More than that, the Abaca industry rehabilitation program would mean lifting up thousands of rural families from poverty, which is President Duterte's ultimate dream.