The project titled “Revitalizing the Abaca Industry through S&T Interventions for Higher Crop Productivity Using High-Yielding and Bunchy Top- Resistant Abaca Hybrids” was implemented to reinvigorate the abaca industry by improving the farm productivity to 1.2 mt/ha through the use of high-yielding and virus-resistant abaca hybrids and its package of production technologies, to ultimately increase the abaca farmers’ income. Accomplishments of the project include establishing 11 nurseries, two additional multi-locational trials, six fertilization plots, and three drip irrigation trial plots of the abaca hybrids. The project also assessed and compared the agronomic performance of the abaca hybrids with the traditional abaca varieties in multiple locations. A total of 81,138 abaca hybrids and traditional varieties were also produced through the project. In addition, field testing components, including the field fertilizer trial in six field stations and three fertigation experiments, were strategically established in major abaca production areas in the Philippines. This project provides opportunities for abaca breeding and increasing the yield of the Philippine abaca industry.
