TRAILS UP NORTH

The Natonin abaca trade
GLO A TUAZON

NATONIN, Mountain Province -- Abaca – a word of two consonants and a vowel. A word of Spanish origin that would mean a plant belonging to the banana family growing widely in the Philippines and usually harvested for its fiber. Just like the banana, abaca has large oblong leaves and a trunk composing of interlapping "sheaths" of pure fiber and water.

The leaves grow upwards in a more erect manner unlike the droopy banana leaves. It grows to about six feet tall or a little higher and blossoms to bear fruits just like the banana. The fruit is edible but small, just a little bigger than the middle finger and usually have plenty of seeds resembling black pepper.

During the rainy season it is ideal to replant trunks with mature roots in loamy soil as abaca tend to grow more in this soil condition. It must be well drained though as too much water would cause the roots of newly planted abaca to rot.

Sixty kilometers from the capital town of Bontoc, these plants grow here naturally in profusion, the soil being the perfect habitat for abaca. Though known in this area way before as a great fiber source, it was only in 2002 that FIDA discovered these plants through the Dept. of Trade and Industry. This helped Natonin develop it to become their OTOP (one town one product project).

In an interview with Bernard Foryasen, planning and development coordinator of Natonin, he said the reason why it was developed just lately was because of lack of technology and machineries in the area.

With the given knowledge, coupled with seminars attended though they were able to start the trade in Natonin. As of now he said they are trying to ask the help of the government to be able to purchase additional stripping machines and mechanical dryers. For now the processing here is largely done manually and takes so much time.

Abaca plants grow to maturity in about half a year or more and have a lifespan of about ten years depending on the condition of the environment and the plant itself. The fibers called Manila Hemp could be harvested from the plant after 3-8 months.

These extracted fibers are very durable and flexible, reason why handcrafted bags and carpets amde from this material last a really long time. Furnitures and clothes are also fashioned out of these. Manila hemp is resistant to salt water damage, so some fishing nets are made of abaca. Raw fibers can also be pulped and processed to make paper products, some mixed to the material for making currencies or paper money.

In Natonin, Albert Pat-og, a private businessman who is a nurse by degree and profession dared to venture into the business. Leaving behind the lucrative opportunity to practice nursing abroad, he loaned an amount to start up Natonin Fiber Craft and Trading.

A home-based shop of bags, bottle holders, accessories and tokens all fashioned out using abaca fiber harvested from the area. In the nearly one year of operation he now has two workers helping him and his wife do the finished products. They also have about eight workers from Bicol working the raw fibers.

They plan to train more in Natonin, to boost the business and also to help the locals generate individual income. Pat-og says their finished products are still new and he is having a hard time finding a market for these. Raw fibers are the main and saleable product and to date have delivered about 5,500kls twice already. They supply Manila Cordage Corporation and hope to get other markets too.

As much as Foryasen and Pat-og would want the village people to be involved more, they could not just train them without the needed equipments. A trainee needed at least P500 for a set of instruments to include scraping knives and other tools to be able to start learning the harvesting process. Harvesting by the way involves a series of processes.

First is the tuxying or separating the sheaths, then comes stripping which involves the actual extraction of fibers from the sheaths. Drying comes after that and in Natonin, sun drying is the method. Lastly they spin the fibers into twines or ropes. The whole process is time consuming and the effort great and this matter remains grim to the newly founded business.

The people of Natonin hope to someday have interested entities especially the government to help out in this venture. So far only about 50 people were given basic knowledge in the abaca processing. With hard work and perseverance though, they hope to come out with better conditions in the near future. -- email: twilight_glo@yahoo.com