Editing Abacá (section)

==Cultivation==
The plant is normally grown in well-drained [[loam]]y soil, using [[rhizomes]] planted at the start of the rainy season.<ref name="eb"/> In addition, new plants can be started by seeds.<ref name=van/> Growers harvest abacá fields every three to eight months after an initial growth period of 12–25 months.{{sfn|Bailey|1947}}<ref name="eb"/> Harvesting is done by removing the leaf-stems after flowering but before the fruit appears.{{sfn|Bailey|1947}} The plant loses productivity between 15 and 40 years.{{sfn|Bailey|1947|p=171}} The slopes of volcanoes provide a preferred growing environment.<ref name="Colliers">{{harvnb|Borneman|1997|p=4}}</ref> Harvesting generally includes several operations involving the leaf sheaths:
* tuxying (separation of primary and secondary sheath)
* stripping (getting the fibers)
* drying (usually following the tradition of sun-drying).

When the processing is complete, the bundles of fiber are pale and lustrous with a length of {{convert|6|-|12|ft|m}}.<ref name=van>{{harvnb|Considine|Considine|1983|p=1}}</ref><gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:01-QWSTION-BANANATEX-ABACA-LEAVES-LAUSCHSICHT.jpg|'''1.''' Abacá plants have several stalks which can be harvested annually and regenerate fully within a year.<ref>{{Cite web|title=BANANATEX®|url=https://www.bananatex.info/responsibility_EN.html|access-date=2021-07-12|website=www.bananatex.info}}</ref>
File:06-QWSTION-BANANATEX-ABACA-HARVEST-LAUSCHSICHT.jpg|'''2.''' Abacá plants are harvested by "topping", cutting the leaves with a bamboo sickle, cutting or "tumbling" the stalks. The leaves are compost on the ground, creating a fertiliser.
File:12-QWSTION-BANANATEX-TUXYING-LAUSCHSICHT.jpg|'''3.''' The tuxy, the outer layer of the leaf sheath contains primary fibres is separated from the inner layers.
File:13-QWSTION-BANANATEX-TUXYING-2-LAUSCHSICHT.jpg|'''4.''' The inner layers contain the secondary fibres and pulpy material.
File:14-QWSTION-BANANATEX-STRIPPING-LAUSCHSICHT.jpg|'''5.'''The tuxies are separated by hand using a stripping knife at the harvesting site.
File:16-QWSTION-BANANATEX-STRIPPING-LAUSCHSICHT-2.jpg|'''6.''' The fibres are then "combed" to separate them.
File:20-QWSTION-BANANATEX-FIBERS-2-LAUSCHSICHT.jpg|'''7.''' The fibres are then air-dried and bundled together before being transported from forest to the trading warehouse of the farmers cooperative.
File:23-QWSTION-BANANATEX-ABACA-GRADES.jpg|'''8.''' There they are sorted by colour grades, with lighter coloured fibres being more expensive due to their rarity.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-04-27|title=Bananatex®, the World's First Waterproof Fabric Made From Banana Plants|url=https://globalshakers.com/bananatex-the-worlds-first-waterproof-fabric-made-from-banana-plants/|access-date=2021-07-12|website=Global Shakers|language=en-US}}</ref>
</gallery>

In Costa Rica, more modern harvest and drying techniques are being developed to accommodate the very high yields obtained there.

According to the [[Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority]], the Philippines provided 87.4% of the world's abacá in 2014, earning the Philippines US$111.33 million.<ref name="Malaya2015">{{cite news|title=PH biggest abaca exporter {{!}} Malaya Business Insight|url=http://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/business/ph-biggest-abaca-exporter|work=Malaya Business Insight|date=June 15, 2015|access-date=June 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809215438/http://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/business/ph-biggest-abaca-exporter|archive-date=August 9, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> The demand is still greater than the supply.<ref name="Malaya2015" /> The remainder came from Ecuador (12.5%) and Costa Rica (0.1%).<ref name="Malaya2015" /> The [[Bicol region]] in the Philippines produced 27,885 [[metric ton]]s of abacá in 2014, the largest of any [[Philippine region]].<ref name="Malaya2015" />

The Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP) and the Department of Agriculture reported that in 2009–2013, Bicol Region had a 39% share of Philippine abacá production of which an overwhelming 92% came from [[Catanduanes|Catanduanes Island]]. Eastern Visayas, the second largest producer had 24% and the Davao Region, the third largest producer had 11% of the total production. Around 42 percent of the total abacá fiber shipments from the Philippines went to the United Kingdom in 2014, making it the top importer.<ref name="Malaya2015" /> Germany imported 37.1 percent abacá pulp from the Philippines, importing around 7,755 metric tons (MT).<ref name="Malaya2015" /> Sales of abacá cordage surged 20 percent in 2014 to a total of 5,093''&nbsp;''MT from 4,240''&nbsp;''MT, with the United States holding around 68 percent of the market.<ref name="Malaya2015" />

===Pathogens===
Abacá is vulnerable to a number of pathogens, notably [[abaca bunchy top virus]], [[abaca bract mosaic virus]],<ref name="NIMBB"/> and [[abaca mosaic virus]].<ref name="abaca-strain-EPPO-GD">{{cite web | title=Sugarcane mosaic virus abaca mosaic strain (SCMVA0){{bracket|Overview}} | website=Global Database | publisher=EPPO ([[European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization]]) | date=February 4, 2001 | url=http://gd.eppo.int/taxon/SCMVA0 | access-date=September 4, 2021}}</ref>