The Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) in Caraga started the year right as it hosted the Mindanao-wide Stakeholders Consultation for Abaca in Butuan City last January 23, 2020.

The consultation was participated by around 70 abaca stakeholders in Mindanao. Among these participants were competent authorities like the Philippine Fiber Development Authority (PhilFIDA), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Local Government Unit representatives, farmers and farmer groups representative, traders, and processors.

The activity served as a venue to validate existing data and obtain more information on the status of the abaca industry in Mindanao with the end goal of updating the value chain analysis (VCA) for abaca fiber and other abaca products.

Stakeholders discussed and validated various factors involving the abaca industry such as overall performance, constraints and opportunities, value chain map and commodity flow map, cost and return analysis, and relationship of the key players.

Value chain has been one of the DA-PRDP’s innovations that provides farmer-entrepreneurs relevant inputs to identify and develop the linkages and interrelationships between activities that create value, profitability and competitive advantage for certain commodities along the segment of the value chain. (Joy Montecalvo with reports from RPCO 13)