Business

 

Inabanga-made handicrafts
hot items in export market

 

The three-term stint of Board Member Josephine Socorro Jumamoy as Inabanga mayor has apparently paid off with the town people reaping the economic dividends.

From weavers to sales ladies, finished products of Inabanga's raffia weaving industry are now an export commodity through the company Bohol Beads & Fibers.

Serving as marketing arm for the export market of the local weaving industry, the sales outlet of Inabanga products is swamped with orders from international buyers.

Bags of different colors and sizes were the mainstay of Bohol Beads and Fibers and they fiound a lucrative market in the US and Spain.

With Bohol fast becoming a venue of many national seminars and conventions, Inabanga's loom weaving business has enjoyed tremendous patronage- from kits to raffia IDs.

Inabanga's entry to the export market featuring its raffia products has its humble beginnings during the time of Jumamoy as mayor starting in 1998.

Through the program of the Department of Trade and Industry called One Town, One Product, Inabanga's OTOP was steered by Jumamoy during its formative years until it became a hot export commodity.

Under the principle of vertical integration, not only was Jumamoy telling the local weavers to source its raw materials in the locality but also encouraged them to plant buri plants.

With the industry gaining international recognition, Jumamoy is optimistic that the town will be able sustain its raw material requirements.

Buri plants are "harvestable" in five years time.

In Tagbilaran, OTOP products from Inabanga can be bought through its outlet at the Island City Mall.

 

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