The Northern Samar provincial government has lined up interventions to revitalize the province’s local abaca industry, a key abaca producer in Eastern Visayas.

The local government will soon operate a tissue culture laboratory at the Provincial Agriculture and Fishery Extension Center in Catarman town, and establish an abaca nursery at the Libas Estate Multiplier Farm in Pambujan town.

“These interventions aim to ensure the availability of quality, disease-free planting materials and sustainable replanting efforts,” the Provincial Agriculture Office said in a statement on Monday.

The province is a recipient of PHP11.4-million fund to support the abaca plantation under the Coconut and Other Shade Trees Project in Silvino Lubos town. This is funded by Tingog party-list and implemented by the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA).

The provincial government earlier donated PHP5.1 million worth of abaca farm machinery to abaca farmer groups to add value to the fiber that thrives well in the province.

The province earlier built an abaca fiber consolidation center that will serve as a drying area, storage, and stripping shed.

Abaca, commonly known as Manila hemp, holds significant economic importance in Northern Samar, being one of the province’s priority commodities.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, 60 percent of the region’s abaca output come from Northern Samar, with Mondragon and Lope de Vega as the top-producing towns.

In 2024, Northern Samar yielded 656.14 metric tons of abaca fiber, according to PhilFIDA.

The presence of bunchy top and mosaic virus diseases on Leyte Island in the past decades has prompted the government to focus the planting expansion in Samar provinces. (PNA)