Abacadabra! Ancient Crop + Native Ingenuity + Resident Management + State Sponsorship = A Great Leaf Forward!

Image: Miracle? I say, “A Gathering Of Saints!” (from Megapixl[1]).

Title: Ingenuity, Management, Sponsorship. “A Gathering Of Eagles” – In that movie, USAF Colonel Jim Caldwell “must shape up his wing and men to pass a grueling operational readiness inspection[2]” (Wikipedia). In my story, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar must shape up PH agriculture with Ingenuity from the Academe, Management from the Industry, and Sponsorship from the Government.

Pandemic – These are the times for all great men to come to the aid of their country!

I’m thinking of abaca being nurtured under local, provincial, and regional cooperative endeavors by strategically located academe, industry and government sectors to bring about a renaissance in Philippine agriculture.

I just had this idea reading the SEARCA paper authored by Glenn B Gregorio and Rico C Ancog titled, “Assessing The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Agricultural Production In Southeast Asia: Toward Transformative Change In Agricultural Food Systems” in the Asian Journal for Agriculture & Development (Vol 14, No 1, 2020, 17 pages). To advance agriculture, they are calling for a tripartite force: Academe, Industry and Government working tightly together right from the beginning.

The way I see it, the entrepreneurship will be carried out with the academe contributing new or improved technologies or systems, the industry contributing its managerial expertise, and the government contributing supporting policies and funds.

Wouldn’t those saints above be joyful?!

Above, those saints in flowing robes are actually hanging abaca fibers dyed in different colors. My story this time is that colorful Filipino tribes have profited littlefrom abaca. How many of them earn much from abaca by producing any of these?

(1) apron 
(2) automobile body part
(3) basket
(4) cap
(5) carpet
(6) cigarette filter paper
(7) clothing
(8) coffee bag
(9) coffee filter
(10) currency notes (paper money)
(11) curtain
(12) decorative paper
(13) diaper
(14) disposal paper
(15) door mat
(16) electrical conduction cable
(17) filling material for bolster & interior trim part
(18) fishing line
(19) fishnet
(20) floor mat
(21) food preparation
(22) furnishing
(23) furniture
(24) glove
(25) grass skirt
(26) hammock
(27) handbag
(28) hot pad
(29) lamp shade
(30) machinery filter
(31) Manila envelope
(32) marine cordage
(33) mask
(34) meat casing
(35) medical paper
(36) mobile phone
(37) napkin
(38) net
(39) organic fertilizer
(40) paper
(41) placemat
(42) purse
(43) rope
(44) rope
(45) rug
(46) sack
(47) sausage casing paper
(48) screen
(49) substitute for glass fiber
(50) table cloth
(51) tea bag
(52) twine
(53) vacuum bag
(54) wallet
(55) wallpaper
(56) wig
(57) writing paper.

One source says there are actually 200 more uses of abaca! I just wanted to point out, using my favorite number 57, that there are literally a great many opportunities for Filipino families or households to take economic advantage of the abaca.

Now then, to the Department of Agriculture, DA, I am recommending that among other crops, DA people help people cultivate the abaca from Aparri to Jolo!@517

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[1]https://www.megapixl.com/colorful-abaca-strings-for-weaving-philippines-stock-photo-58197480

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Gathering_of_Eagles