P35.7-M Sarangani’s abaca enterprise gets green light

KORONADAL CITY -- Abaca production in Sarangani Province has beenboosted by approval of the Department of Agriculture(DA) of amulti-million fiber enterprise
which will benefit indigenous peoples (IPs).

The P35.7 millionEnhancement
of Production and Marketing of High Quality Abaca Fiber Project under DA’s
Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) was issued No Objection Letter
(NOL) which signaled full implementation of the project.
Amalia Jayag-Datukan,DA 12 regional executive director, said the proposal went through different levels of reviews
for almost a year before finally given the green light.

The project will improve the lives of
indigenous communities because 97% of the total membership of the six cluster
members belongs to groups of indigenous people,” Datukan said.

Dante Tomaro, operations manager of the lead
proponent group United Maligang Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (UMFMPC) of
Kiamba town, said the project will benefit 370 farmers
with a total production area of 3,044.40 hectares.
Other members in the cluster include Upper
Valley Rural Development Club (Maitum) Tulad Farmers Association (Kiamba)
Holik Farmers Association (Maasim) Dasig Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Alabel)
and Upper Lumabat Small Farmers Association (Malungon).
Abaca, known as Manila Hemp is considered the strongest of
natural fibers, it is three times stronger than cotton.With the
Philippines as the top producer and exporter(contributing 83% of the world’s production
followed by Ecuador 14%),the country trades five types of Philippine
abaca products in the world market, namelyand fiber, pulp, cordage, yarns and
fabrics, and fibercraft.

Based on the PRDP study, Value Chain Analysis and
Competitiveness Strategy, Abaca is cultivated in 138,369 hectares in 2013.
Collectively, Mindanao accounted for 32% of the area planted to abaca
contributing 34% of the total national production.

For Soccsksargen, production volume increased from 800.34 metric tonsin 2009 to 953.65 MT in 2013.During the last five years, area
planted to abaca increased by 5.82% per year.

South Cotabato accounted for 75% of the region’s production.
Most of the farms are located in the municipalities of Lake Sebu and T’boli.
Sarangani is the second ranking abaca producing province in the
region.Sultan Kudarat registered the highest average yield at 3.68
MT per hectare but area planted was only 4.25 hectares.
Initially, abaca farmer cooperatives in Sarangani were given
technical assistance by the Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA).
Further, with DA’s regional office andmunicipal government
recommendation,UMFMPC availed itself of P250,000 from the DA’s Mindanao
Rural Development Program in 2012.

PRDP through its Investments in Rural Enterprises and
Agriculture and Fisheries Productivity (I-REAP) component works to strengthen
and advance agri-based enterprises through improving farmers production and
giving them market support facilities.