Abaca output down in Jan-Feb period

Philippine abaca production posted a double-digit decline in the first two months of this year, but the Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFida) is confident the key source of Manila hemp will record higher output by end-2022.

Data provided by PhilFida showed that the industry produced 8,693.38 metric tons of abaca from January to February of this year, 13.7 percent lower than 10,076.41 MT in the same period a year ago.

“We’re still studying the results [to determine] what happened because from momentum [in 2021, abaca] production suddenly dropped in 2022,” PhilFida executive director Kennedy Costales told reporters in an interview.

Costales cited the “bacbac” and “umbak” harvesting being practiced by farmers in some parts of the country as one of the reasons behind the downward trend. He ruled out any discrepancy in data.

He once said the immature harvesting of abaca plants—which involves the scraping of the dried outer part of the plant’s leaf sheath—may result in the spread of diseases from the knives used by harvesters to other previously unaffected abaca plants.

“When the gatherer, who normally doesn’t own the abaca plantation and has no knowledge of the virus, slits an infected abaca plant, which contaminated the knife, and thereafter he keeps on slitting other abaca plants in a given area, the whole plantation then gets infected by the virus. In about six months time, the abaca plantation area is wiped out and its neighboring abaca plantation within a kilometer or two also gets infected because of the aphid vectors like a domino effect,” he had explained.

Productions slide

Figures from PhilFida showed that many provinces saw their production slide, with Soccsksargen incurring the most at 55.7 percent, ending at 185.83 MT during the January-February period.

The Bicol region, the country’s top abaca producer in the previous year, came in second with a 34.9-percent decline at 2,361.37 MT while Central Visayas dropped by 24.4 percent to 27.68 MT. Its national average percentage production has been on the “downswing trend.”

“If this downtrend will continue, abaca fiber production in the Bicol region will disappear in six to seven years’ time,” Costales said in January.

He had pointed out various reasons for the decline, including the “deadly ill harvesting and trading practices” of the farmers, traders and the furniture makers, the “plant and forget” attitude of the abaca farmers, and lack of funding for the continued education and training of farmers.

Meanwhile, Eastern Visayas saw its abaca production surge to 73.2 percent to 635.09 MT, followed by Caraga and Southern Tagalog whose output climbed to 46.3 percent and 32.9 percent, respectively.

Despite the dismal figures, Costales is optimistic about abaca production reaching 70,000 MT this year. In 2021, output grew by 9.8 percent to 67,488.11 MT.

The recent typhoons that hit the country may slow down production yet Costales hinted at the likelihood of a rebound in abaca yield. INQ