ABACA Activities in the Philippines - Unido

Ref. No. CFC/FIGHF/09 CFC/UNIDO/FIDA 52
1. Introduction
The Philippines is located southeast of Asia with an almost north to south orientation extending over
13° (4.07 °N to 21.5 °N from 117 °E to 127 °E longitude). Its humid and tropical climate provides an
environment much favored by abaca (Figure 1). Although the country’s climate can be generally classified
as wet and dry, the climate over any particular locality varies due to climatic controls such as topography,
geography, prevailing wind regimes, northeast and southeast monsoons and North Pacific trade acting with
various intensities (PAG-ASA, 1992).
Being indigenous to the Philippines, abaca has been found growing in all types of soil and climates
of the country although it has been observed to be most productive and commercially grown in only three
regions of the country: the Bicol Peninsula, the Eastern Visayan Islands of Leyte and Samar and the
peripheral and Eastern areas of the Mindanao Island (Tabora and Santos, 1978). This led observers to
conclude that abaca grows best under certain types of soils and climates.
Abaca is endemic to the Philippines. Being so, the country holds the largest number of abaca
germplasm, perhaps, as many as 200 varieties, of which about 20 are cultivated commercially. Owing to the
wide range of climates existing in the country, adaptation of abaca has always been believed to be locationspecific.
For instance, Bicol varieties are observed to have shorter and slimmer stalks and better anchorage
and therefore, more typhoon resistant than varieties found in Mindanao.
The Philippine government is currently undertaking a program on the rehabilitation and expansion of
abaca areas in all abaca producing regions. However, the continued presence of viral diseases in almost all
growing areas and the difficulty of eradicating them casts doubts over the possibility of ever achieving the
objectives of the program. An option being considered seriously is implementing the program in nontraditional
areas where the diseases are absent. A constraint that this option will likely face would be the
identification of suitable varieties considering the observed specificity to location. Hence, information on the
adaptability of high yielding varieties to different locations would provide a sound basis for recommendation.
2. Objectives
Figure 1. An abaca plant and fiber
a. To determine the relative performance in terms of fiber yield of high yielding abaca varieties
identified from three abaca-growing regions in the country; and
b. To provide a basis for making sound variety recommendations for the country or for specific
regions.