Abaca grows well in the regions having an altitude below 500 m with an average rainfall and temperature of 2,000-3,200 mm/annum and 27 °C respectively and 75-80 % relative humidity. The latitudinal extent of its successful cultivation is approximately 5°S and 15°N (Moreno 2001). However, the areas with average tem­perature ranging from 20 to 27 °C and having altitudinal extent upto 1,000 m are also suitable for cultivation (Halos 2008; Sievert 2009). The plants require fairly rich, well-drained loamy soil for cultivation. The plants have been reported to thrive well in shade and show improvement in plant height, leaf area, length and girth of pseudostem and more importantly the fiber yield which has been found to be signifi­cantly increased (upto 165 %) under shady conditions (Bande et al. 2012). Recent results have also shown that 50 % reduction in light quality leads to significant improvement in plant height, pseudostem length, and cumulative leaf area.

The increased productivity of abaca under shady conditions has been suggested to be due to decrease in photoinhibition and photooxidative damage (Bande et al. 2013). The plants are propagated by seeds and by vegetative propagules like suck­ers, corm or tissue culture; but the vegetative propagation is the widely adopted practice (Sievert 2009). Suckers are traditionally used for replantation of old planta­tions and corms are preferred for new plantations. The mature rootstock pieces or vegetative propagules are usually planted at the start of the rainy season with the average distance of 2.0 m x 2.0 m and 2.5 m x 3.0 m for smaller and larger varieties respectively. It has been reported that intercropping abaca plants with leguminous plants leads to increased yields as they provide shade effect besides enriching the soil with nitrogenous fertilizers by the symbiotic nitrogen fixers associated with their root nodules (Halos 2008; Bande et al. 2013). The plants are initially allowed to grow for about 12-26 months after which the fibers (petioles) are harvested every 3-8 months. The plants are allowed to grow for a maximum lifespan of 8-10 years and are replaced thereafter. The volcano slopes have been reported to be a preferred environment for its luxurious growth (Borneman and John 1997). Normally the use of fertilizers is not practiced in abaca cultivation but the recent studies have revealed that fertilizer application (NPK) to abaca plantations enhances their growth perfor­mance by positively affecting dry matter production and growth kinetics (Bande et al. 2012, 2013).

Although the abaca cultivars have been introduced to other regions like Malaysia, Central America, Indonesia, etc., they are commercially cultivated in Philippines (except the northernmost part) and Ecuador. The important productive areas of

abaca cultivation are located in Bicol, Caraga, Southern and Western Mindanao, and Eastern Visayas (FIDA 2009). Today it is cultivated in 56 provinces of which the top five producers include Catanduanes, Northern Samar, Leyte, Davao oriental, and Surigao del Sur that account for 32.0, 10.2, 9.8, 5.8, and 5.0 % share in total produc­tion respectively. United Kingdom, Japan, China, Indonesia, and USA are the top­most importing countries of raw abaca fibers and that Germany, USA, Japan Germany, Italy, china, and Hong Kong being the major importer of processed abaca products like pulp, cordage, fibercrafts, and fabrics (FIDA 2012).

Being a renewable resource, the demand for the abaca production is increasing day by day and the reports (FIDA 2012) have confirmed that abaca is being culti­vated on about 172,524 ha and the average production has increased from 66,903 to 73, 274 m. As far as the abaca industry is concerned, the major players include involving about 111,103 farmers, many strippers, classifiers, about 506/17 abaca traders/trader-exporters (licensed), 13 licensed fiber exporters involved in grading and baling process, and many manufacturing or processing units involved in the production of commercial abaca commodities as given in Table 3.1.