Biotechnology is helping
revive declining abaca farms that would otherwise bring in dollar earnings.
The abaca industry generated foreign exchange
earnings amounting to $80 million yearly from 2001 to 2010, according to the
Fiber Industry Development Authority. As the world’s leading abaca producer,
the country provides about 85 percent of the total world abaca requirement with
the remainder supplied by Ecuador.
More than half of the produce goes to the
manufacture of pulp. There is also a high demand for abaca cordage, ropes and
twine; yarns, fabric and textile, handicraft, specialty paper raw material and,
recently, for automobile dashboard and car interior composites.
For all that, abaca remains a poor man’s crop, the
low return forcing farmers to plant other crops, decreasing abaca production in
recent years. Ecuador, the other major producer, and Indonesia, a wannabe, are
just waiting to fill the vacuum.
To slow if not halt the competition, the Philippine
Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development
(PCAARRD) wants to reverse the lack of high-yielding and virus-resistant
planting materials and prevent pest and disease pressures.
The Abaca Bunchy Top Virus is widespread in Eastern
Visayas, one of the top abaca-producing regions in the country. The Bureau of
Agricultural Statistics estimates that abaca production in the region amounted
to 20,000 metric tons in 2011, making it the second highest producer of abaca,
next only to the Bicol region. In 2011, some 39,500 hectares of land were
planted to abaca.
Some 19,107 hectares of plantations in Leyte and
Southern Leyte are also affected by the mosaic and bunchy top virus that destroys
half of the fiber yield and consequently the plant.
One research on abaca that is supported by PCAARRD
is the functional genomics of abaca through gene discovery and molecular
markers. The research is being conducted at the University of the Philippines
Los Baños.
Genome sequencing of abaca is helping researchers
find DNA markers that characterize genes and their desired characteristics to
improve fiber quality and resistance to the Abaca Bunchy Top Virus. Genome
mapping R&D reduces virus infestation by 60 percent, according to PCAARRD.
The Visayas State University in Baybay, Leyte, has
developed a diagnostic kit for the identification of the virus. All these – in
a package of technology for abaca hybrid production – to increase yield by 42
percent, Antonio Lalusin of VSU says.
Another R&D program supported by PCAARD looks
at abaca fiber for specialty papers, textile and high-end products. It is
ongoing at the Forest Products Research and Development Institute, Philippine
Textile Research Institute and the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute
Source: Science Philippines
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