BY REINIR PADUA

KALIBO, Aklan — The fiber industry in this province is booming with the advantage of being free from a virus damaging abaca crops and having penetrated foreign markets that include designer label Calvin Klein.

Manufacturer Heritage Arts and Crafts boasts of having been supplying fiber products to Calvin Klein for seven years now.

Chief executive Javier Legaspi said the company earns $50,000 annually just from deals they have with Calvin Klein.

Javier’s wife Anna India, who acts as the company’s artist, said the fiber products made of piña, abaca, raffia and sinamay are being used for cushion covers of the designer brand.

Anna India, who is also president of the Aklan Piña Manufacturers’ and Traders’ Association, said they try to maintain the quality of their fiber products starting from the planting of the fiber crops.

The group, which has 35 registered members from all over the province, gets its supplies from the farmers from the Aklanon towns of Libacao, Malinao and Madalag.

Most of these farmers plant their fiber crops in lands they received under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

"Whenever we have meetings, we always make it a point to make the people conscious of efforts to prevent the occurrence of the virus," Anna India told visiting reporters during the weekend.

She was referring to the bunchy-top virus affecting the abaca crops of the Bicol region, Eastern Visayas, and Caraga.

The Fiber Industry Development Authority has been leading efforts to develop a genetically modified variety of abaca that can resist the abaca bunchy top virus infecting hectares of abaca plantation. In 2003, 23,000 hectares of abaca crops were infected.

"Aklan is free from that virus. We have that advantage because we can say that there is no hindrance to our production (to cover the demands)," she said.

She said that their fiber products are being protected by a "quality control (system) that starts in planting."

Anna India added that the group has already secured a registration with the Intellectual Property Office for a quality seal for their products two years ago.

She said they are now in the process of developing a unified quality control system for the whole province of Aklan.

Data provided by the couple showed the entire fiber industry workforce in the province consists of 9,486 workers, with investments amounting to P3.3 million.

The fiber manufacturers in this province have penetrated other markets in the United States, Japan, Italy, France, China, Malaysia, Canada, Thailand and United Kingdom.

Among the fiber products, abaca has the highest export sales to the US amounting to $106,669 annually. Abaca fiber products have domestic sales of P33.6 million.

Piña and silk products have domestic sales of P40.753 million and export sales to the US of $30,407.

Raffia-based products, on the other hand, have domestic sales of P4 million and export sales of $30,200.