Abaca fiber production in Catanduanes fell by 20 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared to that of the same period last year, apparently due to the heavy damage caused by super typhoon Pepito on abaca plantations in late 2024.
This unfortunate development was disclosed by Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA) Catanduanes provincial fiber officer Roberto Lusuegro last week.
Records of the agency showed while the 2024 production of 6,335.772 metric tons was 51 percent more than the 3,229.347 MT harvested by local farmers in 2023, the fiber sold to traders for the first three months of 2025 registered a significant decrease compared to the first quarter of last year.
Statistics showed a three-year drop in fiber production for the period: 1,615.426 MT in 2023, followed by 1,518.771 in 2024, and a much lesser 1,205.20 MT this January to March 2025.
“Actually, production decreased due to the damage inflicted by Pepito especially in the hard-hit municipalities,” Lusuegro stated. “The farmers are no longer harvesting fiber because the abaca plants that were either broken or felled by the typhoon have already deteriorated or decomposed.”
He added that while the farmers were able to salvage fiber from uprooted plants, these came from the inner leaf sheaths.
“An estimated 32 to 35 percent of fiber production was lost, so a considerable decrease in production would be felt starting this May,” the PhilFIDA chief on the island said. “The affected farmers are starting from scratch so it would take between one to one-and-a-half years for the province to recover, or by late 2026 to the first quarter of 2027.”
He expressed confidence, however, that abaca production will still be there even in the event of typhoons as farmers are already used to planting new ones every time they go up the mountain to their plantations.
Likewise, the agency official urged local farmers to resort to mechanization to level up their production, as the market demands S2 and I fibers.
The present buying prices per kilo of manually-stripped abaca fiber in local traders are as follows: S2 – P88; S3 – P50; I – P78 ; G – P55 ; H – P42 ; JK – P50; M1 – P39; Y1 – P40 ; and Y2 – P39.
PhilFIDA has been distributing the Modified Abaca Stripping Knife (MASK) with interchangeable serrations, with 1,000 units to be given to local farmers this year.
“These are used for manual stripping but as the knife is upgraded, fine but more expensive fiber is produced,” Lusuegro stressed.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is also giving equipment and training to beneficiaries, with the Turkish government distributing nine units of mobile abaca spindle stripping machines to abaca farmers organizations from seven towns through PhilFIDA.
On the other hand, he said, abaca disease incidents has been brought down to five percent of the plantations or less.
He asked farmers who have yet to be reached by agency field personnel to report any incidence of disease in the plantations to the nearest LGU so it could be treated and prevented from spreading.
On the move of TGP Partylist Rep. Jose Teves Jr. to officially request the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to use anew abaca fiber in the paper currency of the Philippines, Lusuegro bared that PhilFIDA Executive Director Arnold Atienza has already discussed the matter with the BSP with favorable results.
He said that information from the top claims that abaca fiber would be incorporated in the polymer notes although the unconfirmed report did not say how.
What is sure, he added, is that abaca fiber would be back in the composition of paper bank notes, with Catanduanes supplying a portion of the fiber used in the notes which are made out of 80 percent cotton and 20 percent abaca fiber.
Out of the 20 percent used in paper currency, Catanduanes supplied about more or less 8,000 metric tons per year before, Lusuegro disclosed, although that is no longer true today as most of the currency in use are all polymer, even the P100 and P20 bill.
Japan’s currency uses 60 percent abaca fiber, with the requirement coming from the Philippines, he said further.
Abaca Tuxy-Buying Special Project
With regards to the P25-million Abaca Tuxy-Buying Special Project of PhilFIDA in Caramoran, Lusuegro said that its tentative launching is either this June or July.
The abaca machine stripping facility in Sabangan was supposed to be turned over to the Caramoran Abaca Farmers Producers Cooperative in April 2024 but the event was postponed indefinitely.
According to the report, the local government unit of Caramoran, which provided the land on which the facility was constructed, is bent on speeding up the process of acquiring the land from a private owner, said to be a member of the cooperative.
Previously, the procurement process was allegedly delayed by the lack of land title but this has been resolved, a source claimed.
The cooperative has been given an initial P2.75 million as startup capital, with the facility to be turned over including a truck, eight (8) topdown motorcycles to haul tuxy and fiber, office equipment, weighing scales, the abaca spindle stripping machines and others.
Until now, all the equipment and supplies are still in his name, Lusuegro admitted, pending its turnover to the cooperative.
PhilFIDA will closely monitor the cooperative’s operation of the facility to ensure that the program will be sustained.
The facility will produce excellent S3 and S2 fiberm with the inner leaf sheaths to result in EF fiber which demand a higher price in the world market, he said, with the use of the 10 machines to produce 100 kilos or more per month.
The cooperative is also planning to engage in abaca trading, with the fiber to be bought from outside the facility’s coverage, even in nearby towns.
He stated that cooperative members who produce their own fiber can also buy from non-members anywhere in Catanduanes as they would be given a trading license so the volume of production will increase.
They can also directly sell the fiber to identified consignees or end-users through long-term supply contracts that specify fixed volumes per year.
The cooperative has almost 200 members, with Caramoran farmers and those from San Miguel now competing as far as production is concerned, so PhilFIDA is working out the latter’s acquisition of stripping machines for its numerous abaca farmers associations organized by the Municipal Agriculture Office in almost every barangay.