Abaca farmers from Catanduanes found renewed hope through a training program bout the plant’s disease and virus detection.
It aimed to provide abaca farmers with innovative techniques to improve the quality of their products and diversify the abaca industry, ensuring its continued success on a national and international scale.However, its future is at stake due to the combined challenges of low market prices and diseases. Sustaining the industry requires ongoing support from the government and the community.
It also gave them the ability to identify potential threats that could jeopardize the quality of their hand-stripped abaca fiber production. Following the theoretical instruction, the participants engaged in actual testing of abaca samples using the kit. The practical session allowed them to directly observe the color-based results and apply their newly acquired knowledge.