Loom weaving program boosts market reach of raffia industry

In line with the aim of reducing poverty in their immediate locality, a private sector is taking an initiative to enhance the local community’s skills on fiber production and weaving to help improve the raffia loom weaving industry of Bohol.

According to First Consolidated Bank (FCB) Foundation’s Project Manager Elvin R. Sansona in an interview at the “Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan” Trade Fair in SM City, that with their Loom Weaving Enhancement for the Reduction of Poverty (LOWER) Project, they aim to develop and enhance Bohol’s loom weaving products and services.

By using appropriate and conservation-compatible technologies and financial resources, their foundation strives to mobilize community groups that are dependent with the industry by building SMEs’ technical and entrepreneurial skills and capabilities in order for their local products to establish and expand market linkages for both domestic and international levels. 

“The problem of the raffia industry in Bohol is the quality of its products that is the reason why it is sold for a cheaper price,” Sansona said.

He added that their LOWER program has specifically been targeted to raffia fiber producers, processors and weavers from five Barangays in Inabanga and three in Catigbian, Bohol which are already into the industry.

The project is composed of four basic components namely: product development, organizational development, marketing development and governance. With their community organizing component, FCB Foundation aims to give the communities a voice and power to demand fair trade for their products in the market and with its economic governance component they aim to protect SMEs rights from any form of trade abuse.

The three year program was started last April 2006 and is financially supported by the Australian Government through its AusAID. And now on its second year, the program is undergoing its enhancement stage which has slowly improved some of community’s accustomed practices.

The program also made weavers market their own products at the right price to gain more revenue. Buli shoots converted into raffia fibers were used to be priced at P40 per kilo before but after the foundation’s intervention, there has already been an improved as it has been priced at P80 per kilo.

“We have already delegated leaders from each community who can talk to buyers so that they would no longer depend upon their traders and so, it will be they themselves who will market their own products to possible customers,” said Sansona.

 As of the meantime, Bohol’s raffia products are still domestically distributed but FCB Foundation is optimistic that with the kind of pace that their project is doing, they may sooner or later enable their SME beneficiaries to export their products abroad. Although they can provide for the domestic supply, FCB is also trying to teach the communities how to properly replenish the sources of their raw materials so that fiber production will always be high as a steady source will always be available in the wild.

Sansona also reveled that raffia fiber’s main competitor in the global trade are synthetic fibers from China. He also added that domestically, DTI reported that raffia-based products showed huge demand in the market especially now that more new design concepts are integrated to improve these products. – Rhia de Pablo