Biotech Abaca

MANILA, Philippines - The introduction of a high-yielding, bunchy top virus-resistant variety is expected to boost the country’s abaca industry, an official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

Undersecretary for policy and planning Segfredo Serrano said the new hybrid abaca variety is resistant to the dreaded bunchy top virus, a major disease that infects abaca, a source of fiber internationally known as Manila hemp. The bunchy top virus can cause three percent up to 77 percent loss in yield.

According to Serrano, the hybrid abaca variety assures farmers of increased yield by as much as 300 percent, and an even better quality fiber.

Alicia Ilaga, outgoing direc-tor of the DA Biotechnology Program Office (BPO), said the commercial viability of this superior abaca variety was introduced during an investors’ forum by the technology deve-loper, Dr. Antonio A. Lalusin Jr. of the Crop Science Center of the Institute of Plant Breeding at the University of the Philippines Los Baños held at the Nido Fortified Science Discovery Center at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City last Nov. 25.

Lalusin hopes to forge business ties with private investors for the mass propagation of the hybrid abaca.

Dubbed Ok ang Kabuhayan sa Biotech, the investors’ forum was held to forge public-private partnership on the application of these advances in agricultural biotechnology, such as the high-yielding, virus-resistant abaca.

 “The business model offered by this technology is tissue culture laboratory and nursery operations. Like all superior crops developed through tissue culture, this superior abaca variety will be the next sought-after variety, both by operators of commercial plantations and individual farmers,” Ilaga said.

Abaca is endemic to the Philippines. It is an important export crop and is a major dollar earner for the country, generating $80 million annually from 1996 to 2000. The Philippines supplies 85 percent of abaca in the world market. As of 2008, abaca was cultivated in about 140,000 hectares in 52 provinces.

The demand for abaca pulp and fiber, Serano said, will continue to increase as more countries shift to the use of natural fibers in their bid to eliminate dependence on materials that use fossil fuels. He said car manufacturers use abaca as composite materials for vehicle interiors and automotive parts.

The country’s abaca industry is relying solely on traditional varieties for its survival in the absence of new and improved varieties, until the introduction of the high-yielding, virus-resistant hybrid abaca variety, Ilaga stressed.