RP can be the Saudi of Abaca Angara

Sen. Edgardo J. Angara said yesterday that the Philippines should now invest in more research and technology on the local abaca industry with the great international demand for natural fiber.

With proper technology and the infusion of more investments, the Philippines has the potential to be the Saudia Arabia of abaca in the entire world, he said.

Angara noted that innovative technology has made appropriate use of abacas strength, durability, versatility and natural beauty, so that it has gone beyond the production of cordage popularly called Manila hemp.

Even the world-renowned fashion designer Calvin Klein has produced exotic products with abaca as basic raw material, he said.

Aside from the more common products like ropes twines, slippers, bags, rugs and placemats, the durable abaca is used as raw material in the production of tea bags, currency bills, optical lens wiper, oil filter, vacuum filter, diapers, hospital linens and bedsheets.

It is also being used to reinforce concrete and asphalt and in the manufacture of fiber boards, Angara added.

The Philippines is the leading world supplier of abaca fiber and pulp but Angara said the country still has to maximize its production to meet the increasing world demand.

It was during Angara s watch as agriculture secretary that more funds for research and development were infused into the Fiber Industry Development Authority. With strong encouragement from the government, the number of hectares planted to abaca increased from about 107,000 to almost 140,000 while Angara held the agriculture portfolio.

The cultivation of abaca expanded from Eastern Visayas and the Bicol region into such provinces as Sulu, Davao and Samar , he said.

The countrys leading abaca producers are Catanduanes, Southern Leyte , Leyte , Davao Oriental, Northern Samar , Davao del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Western Samar , Sulu Sorsogon, Camarines Sur, Agusan del Sur, and Zamboanga del Sur.

Abaca is the fiber of the millennium. The Philippines must go beyond being mere producer of the raw material by intensifying its research and development on abaca, Angara said.