The soft broom industry in Catanduanes is facing difficulties due to lack of government support and the effects of an increasingly hot climate, with Caramoran’s oldest existing “samhod” maker forced to secure raw materials from La Union.
Inalmasinan barangay captain Rico Benedicto, 49, who operates the business founded by his father decades ago, told the Tribune that several months ago, he had to ‘import’ tiger grass from La Union due to lack of supply on the island.
“I bought the lasa at P250 per beer-size, with the trucking costs eventually costing me a total of P320 per piece,” he admitted, adding that he maintained the wholesale price of the finished product at P100 so as not to drive away customers.
Even now, he said, the “lasa” being dried on the sidewalk pavement in front of his roadside shop was delivered by a farmer from Pandan, who was paid cash at P200 per beer-size.
“Maluya ngonian,” Benedicto lamented, noting that while he used to deliver 5,000 pieces of soft broom to Divisoria before, now his regular orders can only fill one topdown tricycle.
A worker at the shop, Julian Tasarra, 61, a native of Buenavista, Bato who first came to the village 40 years ago, said that the flowering of the tiger grass is affected by above-average or extreme heat as well as typhoons.
Heat or rain delays the flowering of the plant, which is usually harvested starting February until June every year, he stressed.
The dire situation in the lasa industry was recently confirmed by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAg).
“Pabagsak po, meaning kaunti na lang ang farmers na nag-engage sa lasa farming,” stated Paulo Soriao, who acts as OPAg coordinator for the industry.
Before there were buyers from Bulacan and other mainland provinces who traveled to Catanduanes to buy raw materials at the good price, he reported, but now there are local traders who are buying the materials here and delivering them to the mainland’s soft broom makers.
This caused the price of lasa to drastically drop to as low as P50 per beer-size, instead of the usual P250, Soriao said, citing the results of the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) conducted by OPAg last April 2025.
He bared that the lasa industry is provided with support from the government, including insurance for the farmers from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) while the Caramoran municipal government also has an allocation from its annual budget for the industry as it is the “One Town, One Product” is focused on soft brooms.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) used to assist broom makers in marketing and promotion but an official said it is no longer their responsibility as it is now the provincial government who handles the matter.
For now, the biggest producers of tiger grass are Caramoran, San Andres, and Pandan, with some farmers in San Miguel, Bato, Panganiban, Bagamanoc and Gigmoto contributing to the annual harvest.
It may be recalled that early this year, former DTI Provincial Director Ireneo Panti, Jr. raised the issue in various media, saying that the OTOP-supported soft broom makers are now sourcing their raw materials from La Union and Nueva Ecija, causing an increase in the price of ordinary soft brooms from P200 to as much as P300 each.
He asked concerned government agencies and concerned industry stakeholders to attend to the issue and likewise called for an urgent dialogue or planning workshop on how appropriate assistance can be provided to lasa farmers.
An agency official disclosed that a few years back when the price of abaca fiber went up, some lasa farmers uprooted their crops and replaced them with abaca.
When the buying price of fiber went down just before the abaca was mature enough to harvest, the farmers were unable to recover their investments while tiger grass production was considerably reduced.
Another big-time producer of soft brooms was unable to rehabilitate his shop that was damaged by last year’s typhoon, with his products now sourced from individual makers on a per-piece basis.
Benedicto, however, disagreed with the report, insisting that the problem is the lack of government support.
He said that sometime ago, they were promised financial assistance through the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) but nothing came out of the offer.
For instance, the village chief stated, workers have to be paid their wages at the end of the day and the soft broom maker have to make sure he has enough funds to sustain both the procurement of raw materials and the labor and delivery expenses.
He said he does not see the need to promote soft brooms in trade fairs and exhibits as it is already an essential household and office maintenance item.
Benedicto is fortunate, though, as he has existing supply contracts with the SM mall group as well as Robinsons’ maintenance unit, delivering more than a thousand pieces every month, as well as a thousand “walis tingting” or brooms made from thin midribs of coconut leaves.
In a noontime interview at the shop, he said his family were originally from nearby Guiamlong, starting the soft broom shop in 1985 and delivering the products mostly to stores in Virac.
But in 2001, they had to transfer to Inalmasinan after massive flooding brought by super typhoon Lolenh buried 16 of the 17 houses there under a mountain of debris.
When his father died, he took over the business, which flourished and enabled him to buy land along the highway as well as acquire two fishing bancas and establish a sari-sari store managed by his wife.
Prior to this, he worked with the SM group in the sales department for nine years, with his contacts proving useful when he began supplying soft brooms to the company in the mainland and in Metro Manila
The existing shop he renovated using a loan when he became a barangay official, with the “media talle” structure built on a 150-square meter lot just 20 meters away from his residence-cum-store.
When the Tribune arrived at the shop last Thursday (May 29), only one worker – Tasarra – was there, spreading and securing the grass with plastic rattan splits.
The establishment can produce as much as 5,000 brooms each week, employing as many as 39 people: four to bind the grass to the wooden stick, 15 to spread the grass, and 20 to apply the final weaving.
Each is paid between P5 to P6 per piece, depending on what they can finish each day.
Tasarra said that before, the split skin of rattan was used to secure the grass to the stick but it was too stiff, prompting its replacement with plastic bought from a Valenzuela City factory.
The 21.5-inch long, round stick is usually rattan from Obi while the light, square one is “bongliw” wood from Comagaycay, San Andres.
Benedicto himself helps in the process, cleaning sticks, measuring the size of the required grass, cutting the abaca “bakbak” and varnishing the finished product.
Properly dried tiger grass can last for as long as 10 years, compared to the other material also used in soft brooms – the “tibgao” flower – which is relatively brittle.
Aside from the heat, rain and typhoons, regular cleaning keeps lasa plantation healthy, Tasarra said, with the stems remaining after the harvest needing to be cut close to the ground.
Tiger grass has to be planted during the rainy season and harvested not on the first year but from the second year and onwards during fair weather, not too hot or not too rainy.
One hectare of farmland can produce 50 “bultos” of tiger grass, with each “bulto” good for 30 beer-sizes and each beer-size producing four (4) soft brooms, one less if thicker ones are preferred.
Tasarra, who did not finish Grade 6, said he started learning to assemble soft brooms in Inalmasinan where the family transferred after two siblings got married there.
When he began working for the Benedictos, he was paid 25 cents per piece he made, at a time when each broom fetched between P30 to P75 each.
He also planted and harvested lasa and, like the other workers, had to wear sweaters or long-sleeved shirts during the harvest to avoid getting their bare skins sliced by the sharp edges of the grass’ itchy leaves.
For his part, Benedicto intends to continue the business that has given his family so much in the past four decades.
One can say that his acumen in running the soft broom making shop served him well in his bid for barangay chairman, as he can proudly cite his accomplishments over the past 19 months: installation of 14 CCTV units around the barangay and a P1-million water system project with the Talahid falls as source, with 12 solar street lights to be installed along the coast and streets.