Economic Stoichiometry of “Laswa”

A good friend wrote about the plight of jute (saluyot) leaves in the economic arena of my hometown. Jute leaves, with other vegetables such as eggplant and squash, added with krill or dried small shrimps (dried alamang) are usually cooked in one soup-vegetable dish that we call “laswa”. It is indeed nutrient rich and delicious soup.

Surprisingly, jute plants, in other countries are used to manufacture Jute fibers. In fact, it is one of the strongest natural fabric and the second most important vegetable fiber after cotton for various economic purposes. All my life, I thought Jute is just an ingredient needed for my favorite vegetable soup. Nobody told me and I haven’t known any of its great economic potential in the world market, not until a good friend informed me about this.

Imagine that! Then how come Jute remains a vegetable soup ingredient in my hometown? Did anyone in my hometown explore its economic potential? Jute is being grown there like grass and nobody will care about it until someone will crave to have a good bowl of “laswa.”

For weeks, I have been thinking about the economic equation of my hometown Iloilo. There is big error in its economic stoichiometry. Major economic components are not amplified to balance both sides of the equation. The economic activities are not maximized because of the unbalanced economic factors.

Synthesizing the current economic scenario of my hometown, here are some of the major factors that I could identify, lagging its economic returns maximization rate.

1. Conventional political approach.
2. Inflexibility of economic platform.
3. Insensitivity to the global economic movements.
4. Non-synchronicity of economic agenda
5. Lack of collaborative efforts

This is not all about the “Jute”leaves. This is about the actual local economic set-up. Iloilo had witnessed days of her economic height. Unfortunately, she wasn’t’ able to sustain this height and had been in dormancy for almost half a decade. Right now, Iloilo is beginning to pick up her pace, but I find the current economic platforms unsustainable.

For now, I will limit my thoughts here. I will further expound the enumerated factors above in my next series of economic contemplations. They are pretty vague and it is necessary for me to explain further why they are the hindrances in local economic movement, specifically in my hometown.

I am hoping that Jute plants won’t be limited only on the table of Ilonggo families in the future. (Hala antok na ako)

Technorati Tags: iloilo, jute, laswa, local economy, saluyot