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Monday, March 17, 2003
Region 11 could excel in abaca, silk: Fida
By Christie Enriquez-Uayan
SOUTHERN Mindanao can prime up its exports not just through the come back of abaca, but also through silk, the Fiber Industry Development Authority Fida 11) said.
Fida 11 Assistant Director Victorino Agnes said a silk sericulture center
in Bago Oshiro, Davao City was established to help propagate silkworm, the source of silk fiber.
Assisted by the Department of Science and Technology (Dost), the center offers lectures and hands on training among farmers who are interested to propagate silkworm.
According to Agnes, the center is not yet capable of large-scale propagation because of the limited budget.
"Right now, the center is more like a laboratory for the visiting students, nagiging educational sya sa mga estudyante," he said.
In the center, each silkworm is placed in a raring cocoon frame where the silk fiber is wound by the worm. Agnes said 1 cocoon can produce 100 yards of silk. The process goes on for about 40 days.
He said the center exclusively uses mulberry trees as the "home" for the worms because silkworms do not produce quality silk fibers if they cannot feed on the mulberry leaves.
Presently, Cagayan de Oro remains the major buyer of the silk produced by the center. Agnes said each kilo of silk fiber costs P400.
"Mga ilang sako din yan, kasi, ang gaan gaan lang naman ng silk (Several sacks of silk would comprise a kilo because silk is very light)," Agnes said.
The fiber coming from the pineapple leaves is also a potential fiber up for export, Fida believes that with the passing into law of the House Bill on Tropical Fabrics, the country will have additional income from exports.
The said bill also pushes for the utilization of plantation wastes, because the piņa fiber comes mainly from the leaves of the pineapple, which more often than not, is being left to rot in huge plantations located mainly in Mindanao.
Last year, the country earned $68.582 million in income from abaca exports.
(March 17, 2003 issue)
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