ABACA farmers already reeling from Covid-induced market problems must now grapple with more losses after Supertyphoon Rolly battered Catanduanes, the country’s top producer of the prized crop for export.
Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFida) estimated that the damage caused by Rolly to Catanduanes would cause a steeper decline in the total abaca output this year. Catanduanes accounts for 30 percent of annual abaca output.
This, as the Department of Agriculture (DA) pegged the farm damage from Rolly as of Monday at P1.165 billion, affecting the abaca-growing Bicol and three other regions: Calabarzon, Mimaropa and Eastern Visayas.
PhilFida Executive Director Kennedy T. Costales told the BusinessMirror that he expects total abaca output this year to decline by 30 percent to a 20-year low of 50,000 metric tons (MT).
The country’s abaca exports from January to April 2020 grew 13.6 percent to $53.942 million from $47.487 million recorded in the same period of last year, based on latest available government data.
Last year, the Philippines, which supplies about 87 percent of global abaca supply, exported $156 million worth of abaca products.
Lockdown factor
Costales, meanwhile, pointed out that abaca output has been down by at least 20 percent even before Rolly hit Catanduanes.
The decline, Costales added, was attributed to Covid-induced movement restrictions imposed by different local government units, hindering the transport of abaca.
Latest PhilFida data showed that abaca output from January to August is down by 27 percent to 35,130.075 MT from 48,170.825 MT recorded in the same period of last year.
Of the total abaca output during the eight-month period, about 10,213.2 MT was produced by Catanduanes.
Due to the damage caused by Rolly to the island-province, however, Catanduanes Gov. Joseph Cua has estimated losses to have reached P400 million already. Full-year abaca output may decline by at least 30 percent now, Costales said.
Cua said abaca is the main product of the province and generates for it P150 million worth of revenues every month or at least P1.8 billion a year.
“The damage is already expected. If houses were destroyed by Rolly, what more [the] exposed and vulnerable abaca plants?” Costales told the BusinessMirror by phone.
“The damage to Catanduanes would have a greater damage on the overall abaca industry. We are currently in a shortage. As of August we’re down by 27 percent; and then Rolly happened so we expect a much steeper decline [in output],” Costales added.
Costales said the abaca industry’s value is estimated at P8.11 billion, of which P2.4 billion is contributed by Catanduanes.
Premature harvest
Meanwhile, Costales said abaca farmers in Catanduanes will now be forced to harvest their plants tumbled by Rolly to earn necessary cash for survival.
Affected abaca farmers in the province must wait eight months to a year before they could harvest new abaca plants after they exhaust all the damaged plants, Costales added.
“It will take them about a month to harvest all the tumbled and damaged abaca plants. While they are harvesting, new plants will grow which would take eight months to one year to mature,” he said.
In August this year, Costales told the BusinessMirror that they were expecting full-year abaca output to increase by 5.7 percent to 74,000 MT due to favorable weather conditions.
P1.1-billion damage
The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday said Rolly caused P1.165 billion worth of damage and losses to the farm sector affecting Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol Region and Region VIII.
The DA added that Rolly affected 18,130 farmers and 16,981 hectares of agricultural areas with initial total production loss estimated at 66,656 MT.
Bulk of the losses was incurred by rice farmers who lost 45,230 MT of produce worth P739.820 million, according to the DA’s latest report. This was followed by high-value crops which recorded a P370.071 million worth of production loss with an estimated affected volume of 18,789 MT.
However, as a result of the DA’s early warning advisory to farmers who were able to harvest their crops earlier, the DA said a total of 242,683 hectares of rice were saved from Rolly with an equivalent production of 1.071 million MT worth nearly P17 billion.
Image credits: Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, Roy Domingo/Nonie Reyes/ Bernard Testa