For about two weeks starting this Oct. 16, the provincial government of Catanduanes will start buying quality abaca fiber from registered farmers under the Abaca-Based Community Advancement (ABACA) Program.
According to the announcement from the Capitol’s public information office, the soft launch of the program will be the first step in the establishment of the Provincial Abaca Buying and Consolidation Hub.
The program seeks to provide a more direct connection between the abaca farmers and the market while reducing their dependence on middlemen and increasing their income from higher farmgate prices.
Only farmers who are included in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) as duly validated by the Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO) in their respective towns will be able to sell fiber to the provincial buying hub.
Each of the qualified farmers will be given a Provincial Abaca Farmer ID or passbook on which will be recorded their farm area, production capacity, transactions with the hub and payout details.
The program will set a production ceiling based on the validated area of the abaca plantation in order to prevent the entry of fiber from unregistered farmers intended to be sold using the name of the qualified farmers.
In order to ensure that more farmers will benefit from the provincial buying system, volume limits will be imposed on every transaction to prevent some farmers from monopolizing the abaca buying fund and to maintain access of a greater number of farmers.
The recommended minimum delivery is 50 kilos per transaction while the maximum is 300 kilos for each farmer every month.
There will also be a quota monitoring system aimed regularly recording the quantity and frequency of transactions of each farmer and identify volume or selling patterns that do not match their expected fiber production.
Each municipality will likewise be given a buying schedule in order to allow proper access to the hub.
Based on the details provided by the information office, the buying program will cover three fiber grades: Excellent Fiber, S2, at Grade 1.
The fiber will pass through weighing, grading and quality control, including moisture testing, with the weighing to be done in the presence of the farmer so that the volume and quality of the fiber would be clearly determined.
As to the payout, the provincial government will make use of GCash, Maya, LandBank cash card, or cash pursuant to the program guidelines.
The ABACA Program does not end with the buying phase as the fiber consolidated at the provincial warehouse, including the Grade 1 fiber for livelihood training, can be used as raw materials for skills training, handicraft production and product development.
Among those expected to benefit are farmers’ associations, cooperatives, women and youth organizations, local artisans, the academe and other qualified groups and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Those who will be given fiber for training and livelihood will undergo documented allocation and monitoring, as the fiber allocated for these activities cannot be resold as raw fiber.
Under this system, the fiber bought by the program will hopefully jumpstart the processing of abaca right on the island and provide additional livelihood and enterprise opportunities for Catandunganons.
Of the P10 million allocated for the program, nine million will be for the buying of fiber and payout for farmers while the balance of P1 million will be spent for the acquisition of weighing scale, digital moisture meter, supplies, materials, fuel and other operational requirements.
With the operationalization of the provincial buying system, the ABACA program will strengthen the relationship of the farmers with the market and develop the abaca value chain from planting, buying and consolidation to local product development.
According to the Capitol report, the Abaca Capital of the Philippines produced a total of 11,256.59 metric tons of abaca fiber in 2025, equivalent to 20.2 percent of the total production in the entire country.
However, the website of the Philippine Fiber Industry Authority (PhilFIDA) stated that Catanduanes produced just 7,497.625 MT of abaca fiber in 2025, a decline of nearly 28 percent compared to the 10,377.688 harvested in 2024.
The province’s share of the total fiber produced in the country fell from 27.08 percent in 2024 to 21.64 percent last year.
The drop in fiber production is attributed to the heavy damage wrought on abaca plantations by super typhoon Pepito in 2024 and super typhoon Uwan in 2025.