Abaca program aims to keep RP number one

The Department of Agriculture (DA) Friday pledged to increase abaca production to allow the Philippines to stay the number one producer in the world. Agriculture secretary Arthur C. Yap said good production volume should be about 85,000 metric tons (MT). This year - with last year’s typhoons damaging plantations in Bicol and Eastern Visayas, and heavy rains impeding harvesting and drying of fiber - output is expected to be around 69,000 MT. Exports of raw and processed abaca reached $90.68 million in 2006. About 85% of the world abaca fiber supply comes from the Philippines. Mr. Yap said the key to improved production is increased planting areas. The DA has an abaca expansion program that aims to develop a total of 50,390 hectares between 2004-2010. For the next three years, the program has 31,000 has. more to go. "Most of the [new] plantations being established are in areas free from abaca diseases and are not frequently visited by typhoons," he said The total abaca area in the country, according to the Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA), is 141,747 has. Abaca is indigenous to the Philippines, but Ecuador and Indonesia have caught on to the abaca trade too. Ecuador is the minority commercial producer, cornering 15% of the market. FIDA administrator Cecilia Gloria J. Soriano told BusinessWorld in a telephone interview that the agency will encourage more farmers to plant abaca. "We’re telling them there’s a firm, strong market demand," she said. "Abaca is a secondary crop, it’s often not the main source of income. We’ll tell them there are good returns, maybe they can intercrop with legumes or vegetables." But Ms. Soriano said there is also a problem with abaca culture and post-harvest technology. "Most farmers do no practice proper cultural management. The population density of abaca in one hectare should be about 1,600 hills. Most farms do not have that, they plant below that so the farms will not produce the optimal yield per unit area." After harvesting, Ms. Soriano said drying the plant also proves to be a challenge: "It affects fiber quality ... in summer it’s fine, you can air dry it, but during the rainy season, you cannot sun dry it. The farmers do not have the facilities so they bundle the abaca even while [it’s] damp." The FIDA has also launched "Oplan Sagip Abaca", a comprehensive program which aims to eradicate viral diseases affecting plantations in Bicol and Eastern Visayas. Alberto P. Fenix, Jr. president of the Association of Abaca Pulp Manufacturers Inc. and director of Newtech Pulp, Inc., said the FIDA programs are good for the industry but would show results only after two to five years. "That’s the planting period of abaca, matagal yan (it takes a long time)," he said. "We’d like to have a larger supply, of course, and this is good, since the FIDA reports production is falling by about 6% by the month this May compared to last May," Mr. Fenix said. "Abaca has always been a marginal crop," he said, "so the farmers should have incentives to produce more abaca." Ms. Soriano said abaca pulp, compared to the cordage (rope) and fibercrafts sectors, has the most growth potential because of the variety of end-products. Abaca pulp is the raw abaca fiber. "It can be converted into specialty paper, for teabags, for meat casings, for cigarette paper, currency paper ... also it can be made into disposable gowns, and those shoes for the operating room," she said. - Maria Kristine C. Conti/BusinessWorld