Tuesday, August 21, 2007 Demand for Balamban’s abaca increases
WITH the growing demand of exporters and local subcontractors in Cebu for abaca fibers, abaca growers in Barangay Magsaysay in the southwestern town of Balamban will increase their supply and improve their products’ quality.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Cebu Provincial Office program management division chief Elias Tecson told Sun.Star Cebu that he has kept prodding the barangay not just to expand its plantation but to improve the quality of its products so it could supply abaca fiber to support the raw material requirement of Carmen loom weavers.
Tecson said the Car-men weavers need “white abaca,” the class A-type of abaca fiber that is intended for sinamay, but Balamban only produces the class C-type.
Manual
Magsaysay Barangay Captain Jose Bebelonio Pepito, in a separate interview, said the abaca growers in Balamban used to produce abaca fibers manually.
But with the help of DTI and the Fiber Industry Development Authority (Fida)-Cebu, they recently started using a machine to produce good quality abaca fibers to cope up with the Carmen loom weavers’ needs.
More machines
He said the local government and the Department of Sceince and Technolgy, among others, through the assistance of Fida-Cebu, gave them about six more machines for abaca fiber production.
The equipment will be released within the year.
From the 600 kilos of abaca produced monthly in 2005, Pepito said it will be increased to 1,000 kilos per week, especially with the use of the new technology.
A single machine can produce about 120 kilos per day, he said.
Quality
Pepito said he negotiated with a buyer from Baybay, Leyte, who requested to be supplied with 20,000 kilos of abaca fibers per month.
The barangay already supplied the buyer with 1,000 kilos in May.
“The quality of Cebu’s abaca fibers are at par with (those from) other countries,” Pepito said.
Expand
With the demand, the Barangay Unity Key to Integrated Development Multi-Purpose Cooperative, which received a 100-hectare lot donated by the Philippine Business for Social Progress, will be expanding the abaca plantation to 200 hectares by next year.
DTI-Cebu Tecson hopes the region’s abaca growers could supply the demand.
“I am proud that there is a great demand for sinamay, even in raw materials by the furniture, gifts, toys, house wares, fashion accessories and footwear firms, among others,” Tecson said.
He said there is an insufficient supply of sina-may in Region 7, which comprises Bohol, Oriental Negros, Siquijor and Cebu.
Sinamay, which is woven abac fibers, is used in making furniture, gifts, toys, house wares, fashion accessories and footwear, among others. (TEP)
