Fique
Encyclopedia
Fique is a natural fibre that grows in the leaves of the fique plant, Furcraea andina, a xerophytic
monocot native to Andean
regions of Colombia
, Ecuador
, and Peru
. From here it was extended to Venezuela
and the east coast of Brazil
. Common names: Fique, Cabuya, Pita, Penca, Maguey, Cabui, Chuchao or Coquiza.
The fique plant is often confused with the agave
plant. The differences are that the Agave leaves are yellowish and stiff, with a strong spike in the tips, while the Fique plant leaves are droopy and greenish without a spike.
inhabitants extracted and used the fique fibs for several centuries before the arrival of Spanish conquerors
to make garments, ropes, hammock
s and many other applications.
In the 17th century, Dutch
colonists carried the plant from their Brazilian colonies
in Pernambuco
to the island of Mauritius
. The native inhabitants of the island learned to use the fibre and called it “caraguatá-acú” “croatá-acu” or “gravata”-acú”.
The fibre was also introduced to St. Helena, India
, Sri Lanka
, Algeria
, Madagascar
, East Africa
, Mexico
and Costa Rica
.
In the 18th century, in Dagua
, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, the priest Feliciano Villalobos started the first rope and wrapping materials manufacturing industry; his products were made of fique. In 1880 the Colombian government reported a yearly production of three million kilograms of fibres, the exportation to Venezuela of two million, the fabrication of five millions pairs of alpargatas and four million metres of rope.
Between 1970 and 1975 the fique industry suffered a crisis brought about by the development of polypropylene
, which costs less and is produced much faster.
Today, fique is considered the Colombian national fibre and is used in the fabrication of ethnic products, Colombian handicrafts
and recently (since July 2007) has been used for the heath protectors (handmade in Barichara
) placed around the Colombian coffee
cups sold in the Juan Valdez
coffee shops worldwide.
In December 2006 the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2009 to be the International Year of Natural Fibres
, so as to raise the profile of fique and other natural fibres.
, such as F. macrophylla Baker, cabuya Trel, andina Trel, and castilla. Depending of the process of the fiber and the species used, many varieties of fique fibers can be obtained. Among others:
Optimal conditions for the growing of the fique plant are:
The fique crops bring nitrogen
to the soil, improving its fertility. The plant is very adaptable to different ecological conditions. A fique plant can produce 1 to 6 kg of fibers each year.
Xerophyte
A xerophyte or xerophytic organism is a plant which has adapted to survive in an environment that lacks water, such as a desert. Xerophytic plants may have adapted shapes and forms or internal functions that reduce their water loss or store water during long periods of dryness...
monocot native to Andean
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
regions of Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. From here it was extended to Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
and the east coast of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. Common names: Fique, Cabuya, Pita, Penca, Maguey, Cabui, Chuchao or Coquiza.
The fique plant is often confused with the agave
Agave
Agave is a genus of monocots. The plants are perennial, but each rosette flowers once and then dies ; they are commonly known as the century plant....
plant. The differences are that the Agave leaves are yellowish and stiff, with a strong spike in the tips, while the Fique plant leaves are droopy and greenish without a spike.
History
The pre-ColumbianPre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
inhabitants extracted and used the fique fibs for several centuries before the arrival of Spanish conquerors
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
to make garments, ropes, hammock
Hammock
A hammock is a sling made of fabric, rope, or netting, suspended between two points, used for swinging, sleeping, or resting. It normally consists of one or more cloth panels, or a woven network of twine or thin rope stretched with ropes between two firm anchor points such as trees or posts....
s and many other applications.
In the 17th century, Dutch
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
colonists carried the plant from their Brazilian colonies
Dutch Brazil
Dutch Brazil, also known as New Holland, was the northern portion of Brazil, ruled by the Dutch during the Dutch colonization of the Americas between 1630 and 1654...
in Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
to the island of Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
. The native inhabitants of the island learned to use the fibre and called it “caraguatá-acú” “croatá-acu” or “gravata”-acú”.
The fibre was also introduced to St. Helena, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
.
In the 18th century, in Dagua
Dagua
Dagua is a town and municipality located in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia.- Corregimientos :1. Santa María2. El Salado3. El Chilcal4. Providencia5. El Danubio6. La Cascada7. La Elsa8. El Queremal9. El Limonar10. Los Alpes...
, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, the priest Feliciano Villalobos started the first rope and wrapping materials manufacturing industry; his products were made of fique. In 1880 the Colombian government reported a yearly production of three million kilograms of fibres, the exportation to Venezuela of two million, the fabrication of five millions pairs of alpargatas and four million metres of rope.
Between 1970 and 1975 the fique industry suffered a crisis brought about by the development of polypropylene
Polypropylene
Polypropylene , also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications including packaging, textiles , stationery, plastic parts and reusable containers of various types, laboratory equipment, loudspeakers, automotive components, and polymer banknotes...
, which costs less and is produced much faster.
Today, fique is considered the Colombian national fibre and is used in the fabrication of ethnic products, Colombian handicrafts
Colombian handicrafts
Colombian handicraft history can be traced back to the stone age to the lithic instruments in El Abra stadial. Some of the first pottery samples known in Colombia were found in the Neolithic 3 — Pottery Neolithic Zipacón settlements. The earliest examples of goldwork have been attributed to the...
and recently (since July 2007) has been used for the heath protectors (handmade in Barichara
Barichara
Barichara is a town and municipality in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia.- External links :*...
) placed around the Colombian coffee
Colombian coffee
Colombian Coffee is a protected designation of origin granted by the European Union that applies to the coffee produced in Colombia. The Colombian coffee has been recognized worldwide as having high quality and distinctive taste...
cups sold in the Juan Valdez
Juan Valdez
Juan Valdez is a famous fictional character that has appeared in advertisements for the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia since 1959, representing the Colombian coffee farmer. The advertisements were designed by the Doyle Dane Bernbach ad agency, with the goal of distinguishing...
coffee shops worldwide.
In December 2006 the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2009 to be the International Year of Natural Fibres
International Year of Natural Fibres
The United Nations General Assembly declared 2009 as the International Year of Natural Fibres, as well as the International Year of Astronomy.The proposal for this international year originated in FAO at a joint meeting of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and the Intergovernmental Group...
, so as to raise the profile of fique and other natural fibres.
Uses
- Packing: The main use of the Colombian cabuya is for the fabrication of sacks and packages for agriculture. According with the number of threads, the products are classified as:
-
- Dense: 6000 to 10,000 threads per square metre. Used for flourFlourFlour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
and small grains such riceRiceRice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
. - Semidense: 4800 to 5500. Used for bigger grains such coffeeCoffeeCoffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
and beanBeanBean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s. - Loose: 300 to 360. Used for fruits, vegetables and panelaPanelaPanela is unrefined whole cane sugar, typical of Latin America, which is basically a solid piece of sucrose and fructose obtained from the boiling and evaporation of sugarcane juice....
.
- Dense: 6000 to 10,000 threads per square metre. Used for flour
- Ropes: with cabuya one can make very resistant ropes and strings of different calibres, from threads to manilas one inch in diameter. Such ropes are used in the industries of transportation, construction, sailing and many others.
- Arriería accessories: many of the elements used in the pack animalPack animalA pack animal or beast of burden is a working animal used by humans as means of transporting materials by attaching them so their weight bears on the animal's back; the term may be applied to either an individual animal or a species so employed...
s such as enjalmas, cinchas, retrancas, lazos, pretales, tapa de enjalma, and cinchos are handmade with fique.
- TapestryTapestryTapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length and those parallel to the width ; the warp threads are set up under tension on a...
: the mixed and crude cabuya is used in rugs and tapestry of different size and quality. The fibres can be stained with different organic materials such as avocadoAvocadoThe avocado is a tree native to Central Mexico, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel...
seed, achioteAchioteAchiote is a shrub or small tree from the tropical region of the Americas. The name derives from the Nahuatl word for the shrub, achiotl. It is also known as Aploppas, and its original Tupi name urucu. It is cultivated there and in Southeast Asia, where it was introduced by the Spanish in the...
and eucalyptusEucalyptusEucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
cortex.
- Others: handcrafts, purses, bags, handbags, matresses, curtains, shoes, umbrellas, baskets and many other products.
Subproducts
- Pulp: Used to produce organic fertilizant and paperPaperPaper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
- Leaves juice: Can be used for fabrication of soapSoapIn chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid.IUPAC. "" Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. . Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford . XML on-line corrected version: created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN...
, fungicideFungicideFungicides are chemical compounds or biological organisms used to kill or inhibit fungi or fungal spores. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in critical losses of yield, quality and profit. Fungicides are used both in agriculture and to fight fungal infections in animals...
s, alcoholic beverages (homemade tapetusa, organic fuel and animal foodFoodFood is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
. - Floral stem: The strong floral stem of the fique plant is used in the construction of houses and ladders.
- Bulbs: The pickled terminal bulbs of the plant are edible.
- Medicinal uses: The peasants use the leaves in topic preparations for treatment of boilBoilA boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, infection of the hair follicle. It is always caused by infection by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an accumulation of pus and dead tissue...
s. The extract of leaves is used against the horseHorseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
lice.
Cultivation
The fique can be obtained from several species of FurcraeaFurcraea
Furcraea is a genus of succulent plants belonging to the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae, native to tropical regions of Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and northern South America...
, such as F. macrophylla Baker, cabuya Trel, andina Trel, and castilla. Depending of the process of the fiber and the species used, many varieties of fique fibers can be obtained. Among others:
Main varieties
- Ceniza (ash-colored)
- Espinosa (rough texture)
- Castilla or Golden border
- Sisal
Secondary varieties
- Cabuya verde (green)
- Uña de águila (eagle nail)
- Negra común (black common)
- Chachagueña
- Genoia
- Tunosa común (common spiked)
- Jardineña
- Espadilla
- Rabo de chucha (opossum tail).
Optimal conditions for the growing of the fique plant are:
- Temperature: 19°C - 23°C
- Altitude: 1,300 m - 1,900 m
- Annual rainfall: 1,000 mm - 1,600 mm
- Sunlight: 5–6 hours/day
- Soil: dry, rich in silicateSilicateA silicate is a compound containing a silicon bearing anion. The great majority of silicates are oxides, but hexafluorosilicate and other anions are also included. This article focuses mainly on the Si-O anions. Silicates comprise the majority of the earth's crust, as well as the other...
s.
The fique crops bring nitrogen
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
to the soil, improving its fertility. The plant is very adaptable to different ecological conditions. A fique plant can produce 1 to 6 kg of fibers each year.
Diseases
- Llaga Macana or Rayadilla: a viral disease that attacks all varieties of fique and all the parts of the plant, specially in crops over 1900 m altitude. The disease have no chemical control. It must be managed with preventive measures.
- Pink disease: caused by the fungusFungusA fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...
Corticium salmonicolor. The disease damages the leaves, disrupting the fibers. Treatment is undertaked with copperCopperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
-based fungicides. The peasants treat this disease by applying ashes to the base of the leaves.
- Leaf CochinealCochinealThe cochineal is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the crimson-colour dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America and Mexico, this insect lives on cacti from the genus Opuntia, feeding on plant moisture and...
(Diaspis bromelia): caused by a parasitic insectInsectInsects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
.
- Leaf Beetle: a beetleBeetleColeoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...
that perforates the base of the leaves.