P250-M sericulture project underway in Aurora

CASIGURAN, Aurora — A wood-based company in this northern coastal town has launched a P250-million, 750-hectare sericulture project, which it hopes would generate 7,000 jobs over the next five years.

The Industries Development Corp. (IDC) has piloted a three-hectare mulberry plantation in Barangay Dibacong, plus another three-hectare farm in the adjoining town of Dilasag.

Mulberry is a deciduous tree that grows in temperate regions with purplish edible fruit and leaves that are fed to silkworms.

One of the integrated wood-based companies in the country, IDC is heavily involved in community development, job generation and livelihood.

Michael John Ong, IDC executive vice president, told The STAR that their company has invested an initial P5 million in the Aurora sericulture development project.

The five-year project, of which P170 million will be provided by the Agriculture Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF), will install 378 rearing houses.

Ong said the project intends to generate 1,536 full-time and 5,625 part-time jobs, provide technology transfer and marketing of sericulture products, and build a training and research center that will train farmers in mulberry growing and silkworm rearing.

He said the project could generate a net income of P100,000 per hectare, twice the income from palay production.

Thus, he said farmers in northern Aurora could diversify since agriculture production is concentrated mainly on rice, corn and coconut.

With limited flatlands and little access to appropriate technological facilities, the farmers’ production has remained low.

Contributing to the farmers’ poor plight are the bad condition of farm-to-market roads and rampant kaingin (slash-and-burn farming) in the Sierra Madre mountains.

The IDC project is considered well-suited to the area where poverty is prevalent. About 82.5 percent of the total number of families in the so-called "Dicadi" area — comprising Dilasag, Casiguran and Dinalungan — fall below the poverty line.

Aurora Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo said the provincial government is planning to revolutionize the sericulture industry in the province by introducing it in five other municipalities.

She said Sen. Edgardo Angara, House Deputy Minority Leader Juan Edgardo Angara and Baler Mayor Arthur Angara are all supporting the initiative.

Last year, the governor sought the assistance of the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) for the transfer of sericulture technology to the provincial government.

KOICA subsequently sent Dr. Yung Kun Lee, a Korean sericulture expert who has since worked in tandem with the IDC.

Ong’s father, Jojo, IDC head, said sericulture is an agro-based industry with a high potential for employment and income generation.

"The technologies involved are user-friendly and don’t need much inputs. Mulberry trees are pruned for user-friendly harvesting such that they could withstand typhoon damage," he said.

According to an IDC feasibility study furnished The STAR, silk is one of the high-value commercial crops being promoted by the Department of Agriculture. In sericulture, there could be several cropping seasons a year, which is not the case with other crops.

Industry records show that the country’s silk market is still in its infancy stage, although some provinces have already ventured into weaving silk fabric.

Recently, the industry got a boost with the signing into law of Republic Act 9242, which prescribes, among others, the use of Philippine tropical fabrics for the uniforms of public officials and employees.

Over a 10-year period from 1993 to 2002, the Philippines spent an average of $1.9 million yearly for the importation of various silk products, and generated annual export earnings of $1.1 million from the shipment of cocoons, silk wastes, raw silk, and fabrics.

Virgilio Pineda, IDC community development and special projects head, said Benguet is now the leader in sericulture production.

He predicted that Casiguran town would make it to the top in two to three years. "By December, our target is to have 20 hectares of mulberry plantations," he said.