The Department of Agriculture wants to spend P5 billion over the next five years to support and revive the domestic abaca industry, according to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol.

Piñol said in a statement the push would start with a P100-million package for Southern Leyte, where he wants to expand plantation areas.

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He said the amount would be “downloaded” to the town government of Sogod.

The agriculture chief said he had secured President Duterte’s permission to spearhead the rehabilitation of the abaca industry in the island, adding that the President was born in Maasin, Southern Leyte.

Piñol said the DA aimed to intercrop 90,000 hectares of coconut farms across the country with abaca.

“We really have to exploit new opportunities in front of us,” Piñol said, “There is great demand for abaca all over the world and there are only three countries producing it—the Philippines which is the original producer as well as Ecuador and Costa Rica.”

He said the planned five-year abaca program would include funding for planting materials, fertilizer, modern technology and stripping machines.

As for the P100 million that Piñol committed to Sogod, he said half was allotted to the immediate procurement of enough planting materials to cover about 1,500 hectares.

“The plan is to immediately assist the farmers by buying planting materials from them using the local abaca variety called “inusa,” which is performing very well in the area,” Piñol said.

He added that the abaca production support program would be undertaken through a “plant now, pay later” scheme, meaning that the planting material that farmers will receive is not for free.

According to the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFida), Philippine abaca exports grew by 3 percent to earn $114.8 million (about P5.2 billion) in 2015 as production volume inched up by 1.6 percent to 58.7 million kilos.

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Abaca-based shipments include pulp, cordage, fabrics, fibercraft and raw fiber. For raw fiber alone, the value of exports increased by 37 percent to $19.3 million.

However, most manufactured abaca exports continued to show declining earnings except for top-earner abaca pulp, which increased by 12 percent to $79.4 million. Pulp cargos accounted for 69 percent of abaca dollars in 2015.

Cordage rang up $11.4 million to show an 11-percent decrease.

Earnings from fibercraft plunged by 67 percent to $3.8 million while those from fabrics fell 53 percent to about $867,000.

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