PCHI’s Dennis Orlina expounds on the great demand and opportunities facing our abaca industry.
The abaca fiber’s tensile strength is once more tested not only as an indigenous plant but also as a challenged industry which, of late, has been threatened by serious diseases and the supply and demand chain rigmarole. Industry insiders say three main diseases, the abaca bunchy top, abaca mosaic and abaca bract mosaic continue to wreak havoc on thousands of hectares of abaca plantations: In Samar and Leyte alone, around 26,000 hectares of land planted to abaca are reportedly affected by these diseases.
