The Department of Agriculture, in collaboration with the Fiber Industry Development Authority, University of the Philippines’ Institute of Plant Breeding and some Filipino scientists, is conducting studies on the production of virus-resistant abaca plants to increase fiber production in the country.

About 85 percent of the abaca fiber supply in the world comes from the Philippines.

In a statement, the Biolife News Service reported that the abaca industry is under threat by pernicious pests like Bracht Mosaic, Mosaic, and the Bunchy-top.

Bunchy-top virus is the most deadly among the three viruses, it said.

Dr. Anton Lalusin, a horticulture plant breeding graduate of the UP-IPB, led the institute’s study on the production of bunchy-top virus-resistant abaca.

An abaca plant infected with the bunchy-top virus stops growing and thus, no fiber could be derived from it, the Biolife News Service said.

“The group was successful in producing a bunchy-top virus-free abaca strain,” the news agency said.

“However, they needed to conduct more studies since the one they produced was poor in fiber quality. To secure the good fiber quality of the abaca, they rebreed the abaca plant they produced with another abaca plant. They now have abaca plants that contain almost 87.5 percent of abaca gene. The group expects to harvest the plants this month,” it said.

Meanwhile, another group of researches in IPB is doing a research on the production of mosaic and bracht-mosaic virus-resistant plants through “e-radiation.”

Abaca grows in most parts of the country, including Sorsogon, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Catanduanes, Davao Oriental, Northern Samar, Davao del Sur, Sulu, and Surigao del Sur.

Abaca fibers coming from Leyte and Southern Leyte are known to be the most durable.

The abaca industry plays a vital role for the Philippine economy since it earns $76 million annually and employs 1.5 million people, the biolife news service said.