Catanduanes Forum

congrats....hehehe...sana mapansin to ng mga taga catanduanes...hehehe
lalo na ng mga pulitiko (na walng ginagawa kundi mamulitika)

Wow! What a shame! Catanduanes is the highest producer of Abaca? Wow! Has has the Catanduanes Government do to take advantage of this?? And yet, the abaca farmers still remain poor!

If only 1 percent of that total provincial produce is converted to products, more revenues would flow into the province.

Is DTI aware of this? DTI should start thinking of packaging products out of the abaka we are producing.

Dave Pogi

two years ago, i was in solong falls and had the chance to meet manoy dulce, a one-eyed abaca farmer in san miguel. he just came down from his abaca farm in the mountains carrying five kilos of abaca when i stopped him for a brief conversation. he told me he has been in the mountains for six days because he was attacked by severe rheumatism. at the time, it was raining in catanduanes, so i don't think the poor man could muster enough strength to fight off the cold. he had to spend new years day in his cold and damp abaca farm. but he said, it was ok since he will now be selling his harvest...P20 per kilo...encloso. for his six-day work, he will only get P100 for the five kilos he almost died harvesting. he said he will sell his abaca to the town trader who will then bring his produce to the big abaca moguls in virac where they will be sorted according to abaca grades. i asked him why not classify your abaca into grades so you can get more for class a abaca? he just smiled shyly and said "i don't know how". he added that it was better to sell at a loss than not to sell anything at all. apparently, people at the FIDA in catanduanes are not doing their jobs right. i asked FIDA if they conduct seminars to farmers in helping them classify their produce and fighting off abaca diseases. they said yes, here in virac. i was shocked. how can farmers go to virac to attend a seminar when they can't even bring their harvest straight to the abaca big wigs? farmers in the mountains can't afford to go to virac. they sell their produce at P20 per kilo. if, they bring 5 kilos to virac, they will have to spend all of the money they earned in transportation alone. they will arrive in their homes empty handed. abaca cooperatives cannot help because how can farmers think of savings when they can't even feed themselves? when asked, they actually know what they want...an abaca fund. to allow them to get access to seedlings in virac, disease cures, and other information about abaca farming. the only thing is, who will handle the funds? and how will they manage the money. hmmm...