Catanduanes Forum

Plant abaca, farmers urged

By Bobby Labalan
Inquirer
Last updated 08:51am (Mla time) 06/21/2007

SORSOGON CITY, Philippines -- The Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA) is urging farmers to plant more abaca to take advantage of the rising demand for hemp.

FIDA administrator Cecilia Soriano said in a recent forum here that there was a good market for hemp because it was being used in the manufacture of currency and security paper and also in car interiors.

The Philippines supplies 88 percent of the world's requirement for hemp. The remaining 12 percent is supplied by Ecuador, which got its abaca planting materials from the Philippines.

The industry earns some $90 million annually from the export of abaca fiber, cordage, pulp and fabrics to countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Australia.

Soriano said farmers were not planting as much abaca as before because of diseases that continued to plague plantations and the damage from recent typhoons.

He added that FIDA programs were being hampered by an acute lack of personnel, particularly technicians, who could go around plantations to help farmers increase their yield. With INQUIRER.net