SOUTHERN LEYTE – The Philippines is the number one producer of abaca fiber internationally, supplying 87.5% of the world’s requirement and employing 1.5 million Filipinos.
The key abaca-producing areas in the country are the Bicol Region and Mindoro in Luzon; Southern Leyte, Leyte, Samar, Negros Oriental, Iloilo and Aklan in the Visayas; and all the provinces of Mindanao. Eastern Visayas produced 2,938 metric tons (MT) in 2024, which is 33.15 percent of the country’s abaca fiber production.
Southern Leyte, a province in Eastern Visayas, is the top producer of abaca fiber with 1,457 MT in 2024. The price of abaca fiber ranges from Php80 to Php119 per kilogram. Top-producing municipalities include Maasin City, Sogod, Malitbog, Libagon, St. Bernard, and Hinunangan. Although the region’s productivity rate of 2.9 MT per hectare lags behind Mindanao’s 6 MT, the quality of Southern Leyte’s fiber often exceeds expectations. Feliciano L. Malaki, Jr., Chief Engineering Officer and Abaca Focal Person of the Southern Leyte Provincial Agricultural Services Office, noted that even with organic copra prices reaching ₱75 per kilo, abaca remains the more profitable and reliable option.
In 2016, newly sworn in Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol turned over Php50 million for the Abaca program to Sogod, Southern Leyte where the farmers asked to revive the abaca industry by rehabilitating their disease-ravaged farms, he said. This was part of the Department of Agriculture, Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PHILFIDA) and the local government’s Sogod Opportunities for Abaca Rehabilitation (SOAR) Project. Under the 3-Year P100-million SOAR Project, farmers were supposed to be provided with planting materials such as abaca suckers, fertilizers, and budget to clean up their farms.
In 2018, three abaca nurseries were established in Bontoc, Concepcion and Salvacion Sogod. Approximately 3,000 hectares of land in Sogod have been planted with abaca. By 2019, the villages of Lonoy, Cabadiangan, and Pinaskuhan in Maasin City have also established their own abaca nurseries.
The Provincial Government implemented the coconut-based abaca production with about 70,000 abaca suckers in 2021. And in 2022, the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA) and the provincial government collaborated to plant 40,000 abaca suckers in 15 abaca nurseries in 11 local government units to propagate disease-free abaca suckers for massive distribution to farmers in the province.
In 2023, Eastern Visayas, which used to be the top abaca producing region in the country, made a unified push “to bring back the once vibrant abaca industry in the region.” For this, the Abaca Coalition of Eastern Visayas consisting of local government units, state universities and colleges, farmer groups, and industry players convened and brainstormed for two days.
There is a positive outlook on the abaca fiber industry. In global perspective, the industry is “expected to gain importance due to the rising adoption of natural fibers.”
The global market size was US$787.99 in 2024 and is expected to reach US$2,999.66 in ten years.
Looking ahead, Malaki, Jr. stressed the importance of coordinated and strategic action to revitalize the region’s abaca industry. He called for increased funding to fight abaca bunchy-top virus, improved propagation techniques such as tissue culture and macro-propagation (with strict disease control), and higher yields through better fertilization, planting density, and farm management.
Malaki highlighted the need to attract younger generations to abaca farming, saying that the aging workforce must be replaced by empowered youth who see agriculture as a sustainable and dignified career. “The future of abaca lies not just in its fiber, but in the hands of those willing to grow it, he said.” (GMReyes, AVista, Sources: DA, DOI, PNA, PHILFIDA)
