ABACA (MANILA HEMP) — EDWARDS 335 



control of a large part of the abac& holdings in the District of Davao, which 

 leads all provinces in the Philippines in the production of the best grades of 

 cordage fiber used in the United States. It is also of interest to note that the 

 Chinese control a large portion of the trade in abacfr. 



3. The Government of the Philippine Islands has but limited facilities for 

 eradicating, or even controlling plant diseases. Within recent years diseases 

 of abac& have been causing an increasing loss, and as the production of abaca 

 is confined to a limited number of provinces and islands one of these diseases 

 might easily spread throughout the entire abacti-producing area. The fate of 

 coffee, coconuts, and bananas in certain regions of the Tropics shows very clearly 

 what may happen at any time to abaca, in the Philippine Islands. 



The logical remedy. — If it is admitted that there is an element of danger in 

 the United States' being dependent on the Philippine Islands for its entire supply 

 of abaca fiber, the logical remedy for this situation is to establish a source of 

 supply of this fiber in some country other than the Philippines. While abaca 

 has never been produced on a commercial scale in Tropical America, there appears 

 to be no reason why such production is not practicable. The climatic and soil 

 conditions in portions of Panama, in certain other parts of Central America, and 

 in the Vega Real of Santo Domingo are quite similar to the conditions found in 

 the abaca, provinces of the Philippine Islands. It is known that abaca, has made 

 a luxuriant growth in Panama, and that certain species or varieties of Musa, 

 producing fiber of fairly good quality, are now being grown in the Vega Real 

 region. With the adoption in the District of Davao in the Philippine Islands 

 of a simple, but fairly satisfactory, machine for cleaning abaca, and with the 

 progress that has been made during the past year with other machines for clean- 

 ing this fiber, there is every reason to believe that abaca produced in Tropical 

 America could be cleaned with machines. 



Procedure recommended. — As the results thus far obtained in propagating 

 abaca from seeds have been generally unsatisfactory, it is believed that the estab- 

 lishment of this industry on a commercial basis in Tropical America will involve 

 the importation from the Philippine Islands of suckers of several of the best 

 varieties of abaca. Before making any definite arrangements for the importa- 

 tion of abaca suckers, it would be advisable to obtain detailed and accurate data 

 regarding the climatic and soil conditions, areas available for abaca planting, 

 attitude of the local planters toward this project, and any other useful information 

 pertaining to the localities where it is proposed to plant abaca. It is recommended 

 that such an investigation be made, which would serve as a basis for future work. 



The recommendation that a preliminary investigation be made of 

 conditions in the Canal Zone and the Republic of Panama was approved 

 in December 1921. This was the beginning of the project that made 

 it possible on December 12, 1941, 5 days after Pearl Harbor, for rep- 

 resentatives of the Government, the United Fruit Co., and the cordage 

 manufacturers to meet in conference in Washington, and by the follow- 

 ing week to have the commercial development of the abaca projects 

 in Central America actively under way. The history of the whole 

 project is one of many difficulties and some failures but ultimate 

 success. 



ABACA IN CENTRAL AMERICA 



Unlike some of the other hard-fiber crops, abaca is rather exacting 

 in its climatic and soil requirements. An abundant but not excessive 



