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FINALLY! Benguet is producing fine silk and exported to Japan and South Korea. It is through the efforts of farmers in Kapangan town.
I had my doubts this would ever happen. But thanks, and kudos to the determination and energetic thrust of these Benguet farmers. They have erased such doubts, and I can now be delisted from the company of “Doubting Thomas”.
More than half a century ago in La Trinidad, the defunct Mountain Province Development Authority (MPDA) introduced the idea of producing silk as an added source of income for Benguet farmers.
With such an ambitious project study, MPDA agricultural technicians planted tubers of mulberry trees in an elevated farmland, converted into a nursery, in sitio Tabangaen, Bgy. Balili in La Trinidad.
The location was the former site of an experiment station for silkworm farming by Japanese farmers during their occupation in the World War 2 years.
However, the MPDA was abolished and disgustingly failed to produce the end project of silk.
Silkworm farming is tedious and needs care and extra attention. But Kapangan farmers has taken the challenge with the encouragement of open markets in Japan and South Korea.
They started the project by planting mulberry trees in the 1990s at the initiative of Mayor Leon. Its success was featured in 2004 with the display of silk products during a special occasion in La Trinidad.
It is sad to note that there are no financially established local markets to support the farmers. It is simply due to its extra fine and high quality, the Benguet silk, which is unbroken at kilometric length commands prices beyond the reach of local business establishments and traders.
Nonetheless, a handful of haberdashers in town with artistic designs have come up with Igorot fabric using looms and needles.
Perhaps fashion shows of elegant gowns and men’s outfits can help open wider markets for Benguet silk.
How is silk produced?
Silkworm eggs hatched in mulberry trees, after which, the larvae voraciously nibble on its leaves. As fattened adults, they secrete fine silk filaments around themselves into protective cocoons.
These cocoons which are hardened with a certain amount of gummy protein called sericin are then harvested on a certain number of days.
They are soaked in hot water to loosen the filaments for easy unwinding and wound into reels. It is said that for better quality, the filaments are further washed and dried at specific temperatures.
Processing the Kapangan, Benguet silk is done in La Trinidad. Hopefully in time, Kapangan will earn the title as producer of the finest silk fabric in the Philippines.