San Juan is joining the bandwagon of themed festivals: part of the town’s celebration this Christmas season is the first ever buri festival that will feature the longest buri mat. How ever are they going to make this, I asked. Somebody commented: maybe they’ll put one banig (buri mat) after another along the road. Yeah, like that parlor game, the longest line, where team players take off belts, socks, shirts, jeans, shoestrings, line them all up to make the longest line? Why don’t we wait and see how our buri weavers are going to accomplish this feat? Anyway, it’s about time; this will give a big boost to our sagging buri industry.

Lapog has been a buri craft producer for as long as I can remember. I grew up spending my leisure hours watching neighbors weave hats until I learned the craft myself. The quality of our buri products, however, remains sub-standard; when it comes to product design, little has changed, quality remains wanting. To my knowledge, only the Department of Trade and Industry has been active in assisting Lapoguenio weavers in terms of financing and marketing, inviting our local buri associations to trade fairs in Manila. Our buri products, however, do not perform well in the market because of poor quality and design. There are better-made buri items from Negros, Bohol and other parts of the country, with better designs, and more varied finished products other than the traditional hats, mats and bags. These include window blinds, table accessories, toilet paper holders, photo album frames, and other novelty items that are popular in export markets so that they reach international trade shows. Buri has also found its way into the furniture industry as an upholstery material. Raffia, the young leaf of the buri plant has many uses including throw pillow covers, decors, wrapping materials. Buntal, which is taken from the petiole of the leaf, can be made into placemats, hats and bags. There are endless possibilities if only our buri industry is harnessed to its full potential. And yes, we must not forget that to sustain the local buri industry, we need to ensure a steady supply of the raw material, hence, buri propagation.

Somebody has to mediate between the buri industry and government agencies so local weavers can get help. The Department of Science and Technology could assist in terms of the technology to make the finished buri product last longer. The Technology and Livelihood Resource Center could help in introducing innovative designs in order for our weavers to move away from the usual hats and bags. There are already too many of these in the market and do not have much value added, thus command a low price. This means low income for our buri weavers. The buri festival would be a good way for the local buri industry to get the attention and much-needed help. I hope it won’t just be a mere feature gracing the Christmas season celebrations.

Filed under: Local scene, My town, November 2006 | You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.