CULTURE & ARTS – Endemic treasures from Phl

Text and Photos by Henrylito D. Tacio
Filipinos may take for granted abaca, narra, and pili, but they are the country’s endemic treasures. They may have been grown in other parts of the world now, but their place of origin is the Philippines.
 Expect for abaca, they are not given much importance by the people who should have benefited from them. Instead of concentrating of what truly are from the Philippines, some technocrats are developing those that are not really from the country like rubber, palm oil, and macadamia, among others.
 Although abaca is indigenous to the Philippines , it is also found in Borneo , Indonesia and Central America .  However, the Philippines holds the distinction of being the abaca capital of the world. The reason for this: the country accounts for about 84 percent of the total world abaca fiber production. Such market dominance has made abaca one of its top dollar earners.
 Last year, abaca exports earned local producers and processors P4.39 billion. “We note an increase in the demand for abaca cordage and pulp,” said Mystic Pelayo, supervising statistician of the Fiber Industry Development Authority.
 In terms of volume, the country shipped out 11,293 metric tons (MT) of abaca fiber, 20,879 MT of abaca pulp, and 6,955 MT of cordage in 2010. 
 The country’s major markets for abaca products are the United States , Japan , and Germany . China , one of the biggest tea-drinking countries in the world, has been continuously expanding its imports of abaca pulp from the Philippines for the manufacture of tea bags.
 The abaca is one of the sources of raw materials for various income-generating projects of Filipinos. “The fiber craft industry, which produces bags, rugs, placemats, hats, hot pads, coasters, yarns, and hand-woven fabrics, provides livelihood to rural women and out-of-school youths,” a report from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said.
 Manila hemp – as abaca is known around the world – replaced bark, which was once the primary source of cloth, before the Europeans arrived in the Philippines . It was not until in 1685 that abaca came to the attention in the western world. In 1820, John White brought few abaca fibers to the United States . By 1825, importation of abaca fiber took place.
 Abaca was first cultivated on a large scale in Sumatra , Indonesia in 1925 under the Dutch, who had observed its cultivation in the Philippines for cordage. This was followed up by plantings in Central America sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With the commencement of World War II, the supply from the Philippines was eliminated by the Japanese. When the war ended, the Philippines again became the world’s biggest abaca supplier.
 Ask any elementary pupil if he knows what the country’s national tree is and he will reply, “Narra.” But ask him again how narra looks like and he will never say a word. The reason: most children these days don’t see any narra tree.
 In fact, narra is on the brink of extinction and only the most determined and relentless conservation campaign will preserve it. “Today, the Philippines has only small, scattered and endangered remainders of the tree,” laments Roy C. Alimoane, director of Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center Foundation Inc. based in Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur. 
Narra is very attractive because of its flowers. However, it is highly esteemed because of its timber. “It (timber) is moderately hard and heavy, easy to work, pleasantly rose-scented, takes a fine polish, develops a range of rich colors from yellow to red, and has conspicuous growth rings, which impart a fine figure to the wood,” wrote T.E. Hensleigh and B.K. Holaway, editors of Agroforestry Species for the Philippines.
 Regarding the strength properties of narra, the Woodworkers Source said that the bending strength of air-dried wood of narra is similar to that of teak, which is considered to be strong. Strength in compression parallel to grain is in the high range. Other species in this range include teak, white oak and hard maple. It is moderately hard and resistant to wearing and marring. It is a heavy wood. The wood is high in density.”
 As furniture, one author commented: “In durability, in beauty of its grain, and in the beautiful finish it takes, narra ranks with the best cabinet woods in the world.” It is used in the manufacture of high-quality furniture, peels and veneers, paneling, and parquet-floors. The narra wood, if it is available, is also preferred for the manufacture of inlays, musical instruments, clocks, piece-works, billiard tables, piano cases, and sculptures.
 In 1987, the Philippine government prohibited the felling down of narra trees and its collection in natural stands. However, the forest-cultivation for industrial purposes was excluded from this regulation. Today, the remainders of narra trees can only be found at the coast of Isabela, in Bicol, in Mindanao and in the forests of Cagayan.
 “Pili nuts possess the characteristics to become among our country’s most valuable export commodity. Categorically, they can compete with cashew, almond, and macadamia in terms of texture, taste, and extracted micronutrient yield.” 
 That statement comes from a study conducted by a team of biotechnologists, who urged the current administration to support the pili industry. “Despite the recorded growth in the production of pili from 1990 through 2008, the industry, as a whole, remains risk-averse, conflict-ridden and growth-stagnant,” the study added. 
Although pili is also grown in other tropical countries of Asia like Malaysia and Indonesia, only the Philippines produces and processes pili nuts commercially. In 1977, the country exported approximately 3.8 tons of pili preparation to Guam and Australia . Before World War II, pili nuts were exported to Hawaii , Germany , France , Great Britain , and Japan, according to the Plant Industry Digest published in 1970. 
In recent years, the largest buyers of pili nuts from the Philippines are people from Hong Kong and Taiwan as the nut is one of the major ingredients in the famous Chinese festive dessert known as the “moon cake.”
 The United States is still an untapped market. US imports millions of kilos of shelled walnuts and almonds a year. If the Philippines would produce high-quality pili nuts, there is a tendency that Americans would be encouraged to consider importing some from the country. 
“The current status of the pili is equivalent to that of the macadamia some 30 years ago,” says Richard A. Hamilton, a macadamia breeder at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. “It has great potential to develop into a major industry.” (The expensive macadamia nuts are in demand in Korea , Hong Kong , Singapore and Austria .)
 Among the entire world’s nut, pili reigns supreme in oil content – over 70 percent. The pulp oil – highly prized for its lanoline content – can be extracted and used for cooking or as a substitute for cotton seed oil in the manufacture of soap and edible products.
 “Chemical and nutritional analyses of pili pulp oil are very similar to olive oil,” the DOST reported. “However, pili pulp oil has more beta-carotene, a known vitamin A source, and carotenoids, which makes it more nutritious than olive oil.”
 It is high time that the government officials, law makers, businessmen, and farmers should pay attention to the country’s endemic treasures.