IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2017) 8-2

Research articleerd

An Assessment of Village Type Pottery Industry
REGUCIVILLA A. POBAR*Bohol Island State University Main Campus, Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines
Email: regupobar@gmail.com

NELSON M. PATEÑA
Bohol Island State University Main Campus, Tagbilaran City, Bohol, PhilippinesJOSEFINA G. GENTALLANBohol Island State University Main Campus, Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines
Received 1 January 2017

Accepted 30 Oct 2017(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract A village type pottery industry was operating in a village of Talibon, in northern
Bohol, Philippines which existed for quite sometime and was observed to be very slow in its
improvement in terms of number and design of products, number of workers and the facilities
remained obsolete. This study was conducted to determine the features of the village typepottery industry in terms of the beginnings of industry, the management structure, howpottery craft was learned, the process followed to produce a product, the source of raw
materials, facilities and equipment used, designs of the products, the customers and theworkers of the pottery. This was also conducted to determine the contribution of the industry
to the local community. Further, the study was conducted to identify the level of satisfactionof the customers in terms of the product quality, quantity and timeliness of delivery of theproduct and to recognize the problems met by the industry. This study used descriptive survey
method utilizing questionnaire, interview and actual observation. The result shows that thisindustry started in 1970s by the great grandparents of the present proprietors, the products
were only limited to cooking pots, flower pots, and stove. Presently, this industry is managed
by a couple, the husband as the manager and the wife as assistant manager. It has 5 workers
in the production area, 3 males and 2 females who are daughters of the couple managing it.
There were additional 2 workers, one helped in getting raw materials and the other one inselling the product. The result also shows that the raw materials were taken from the area
near the pottery. It can be noted that improvised facilities and equipment were used in thispottery industry. Their customers were composed of walk-in customers and wholesalers. The
result in the level of satisfaction on the products in terms of quantity, quality and timelinessin product delivery, revealed that the customers were Satisfied and Very Satisfied. The top
three problems experienced were lack of capital, obsolete technology and lack ofdiversification. These results challenged the state university in Bohol and gave it theopportunity to use their capacity of helping this pottery industry in those aforementionedproblems.
Keywords pottery, local community, pot designs, improved facilities

INTRODUCTION
Pottery is a ceramic material which makes up potterywares that include earthenware, stoneware andporcelain (Dinsdale, 1986). It is also defined as a clay that is modelled, dried, and fired, usually witha glazed or finished into a vessel or decorative object. The term "clay" refers to a naturally occurring
material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which is generally plastic at appropriate watercontents and will harden with dried or fired. Although clay usually contains phyllosilicates, it may
contain other materials that impart plasticity and harden when dried or fired.
Pottery in Bohol utilized clay found in the locality where the pottery operated. It is unique
because the clay was first stamped by the workers using their feet to make it fine, it was also mouldedⒸ ISERD42

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2017) 8-2

by the hands of the workers without the aid of any tool or moulder except for hollow blocks and firebricks. It was observed that it existed for quite sometime but was noticed to be very slow in its
improvement in terms of the operation, number of products and product quality. It is in this context
that the researchers were encouraged to conduct an assessment about this industry.
OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted specifically to determine the features of the village type pottery industry
in terms of the beginnings of industry, the management structure, how pottery craft was learned, thesources of raw material, the process followed to produce a product, facilities and equipment used,
and the designs of the products. This study was also conducted to determine the contribution of theindustry to the local community. Further, the study was conducted to identify the level of satisfactionof the customers in terms of the product quality, quantity and timeliness of delivery of the productand to recognize the problems met by the industry.
METHODOLOGYThis is qualitative and quantitative study using descriptive survey method utilizing questionnaire andreinforced by interview and observation during the actual pottery operation. There were 42
respondents of the study broken down as follows; 2 owners (husband and wife), 5 workers, 25
customers and 10 wholesalers. The researchers used both convenient sampling and snowballtechniques in identifying the 25 customers and ten wholesalers. This study was conducted in Talibon,
the northern part of Bohol, Philippines.

Fig. 1 Map of the Philippines and Bohol
The responses of the walk-in customers and the wholesalers on the satisfaction level used thescale of 1 to 5, 5 as the highest level of satisfaction/ highest gravity of the problem and 1 as the lowest.
For analysis of the data, the following ranges were used 4.24 - 5.00 Very Satisfied/ Very Serious
problem, 3.43 - 4.23 Satisfied/ Serious Problem, 2.62 - 3.42 Moderately Satisfied/ Moderately
Serious Problem and 1.00 - 1.80 Dissatisfied/ A Problem but did not greatly affect the operation.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
For the profile of the village-type pottery industry, the result of the interview shows that the pottery
started in operation in 1970s by the great grandparents of the present owner, when their children werestill young. During that time they only used a piece of wood like a paddle in de-airing and kneading
the raw materials, they only used their hands in making pots, flower pots and cooking stoves. It wasⒸ ISERD43

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2017) 8-2

only his grandmother who made the products, travelled to different towns during scheduled market
days to sell them. They discovered that pot making helped much in their livelihood.
In the present time, it is managed by the grandson of the previous owner and his wife, they have
only five workers, which include their two daughters, and three male workers who were also theirclose relatives. The males are between 20 to 40 years of age. They learned the craft throughexperience without proper training. As of the present time nothing much was changed althoughchanges in the operation was noticeable. In the interview with the workers, they said, they still got
the raw material near the place where the pottery house was erected. It can be observed that several
holes were already made which shows that they got the raw materials in these areas.
The village type pottery industry adopted the some steps in the making of pots. It started withthe gathering of raw materials from the main source just in the vicinity of the building, then de-airing
followed which was done only by using their feet or stepping on the raw materials done several times.
It was followed by kneading using their hands. These steps only indicated that they still need facilities
for de-airing and kneading. When the raw materials were already ready, these were placed near thepotter’s wheel ready for the mass production.
For facilities and equipment, they already have the potter’s wheel, which made their work a biteasier. They also have improvised moulders for fire bricks and hollow blocks, ovens small and big
were also available. The small oven can bake 600 products fired in 6 hours, while the big one canbake 2000 products in 18 to 24 hours. Small oven was only used when there was an emergency orderwhile the big was used in the normal operation. The ovens were fed with firewood, ordinary firewood
with dried leaves of coconut to start the fire. There was also a building made of native and lightmaterials used to air dry the products before baking and which also served as their display area before
delivering the products to the customers or while waiting for the customers to pick them up.
As observed in the actual visit to the village type pottery industry, the designs of the products
had already improved. In addition to the usual cooking pots, flower pots and cooking stoves,additional products were already produced such as the new designs of pots, flower pots of different
sizes, vases with stand, haron jar, water jar, montabana, plant stand, bonsai pots, fire bricks andhollow blocks. But when the workers were interviewed, they said, that they wanted to learn moredesigns and more techniques in pot making.
In the result of the interview with the proprietor, he said that the village-type pottery industry
became their means of livelihood until the present time. This is also where their workers earned aliving. The community was also benefited because of the taxes they paid to the government.
For the satisfaction level of the customers in terms of quantity, quality of the products and thetimeliness of product delivery, Table 1 shows, the products that ranked first in the level of satisfactionin quantity were the Fowls’ Feeders with a weighted mean of 4.92 or Very Satisfied. It was followedby flower pots with the weighted mean of 4.85 and 4.385, Very Satisfied for cooking pots. It meansthat these products were always available in the display area. The customers said they canimmediately buy these products anytime with the quantity they need. However, hollow blocks, firebricks and flower vase with stand were the last three products in the rank as to quantity with a ratingof 2.61 or “Moderately Dissatisfied” for hollow blocks, and 2.63 and 3.11” Moderately Satisfied”
for both fire bricks and flower vase with stand respectively. These are made-to-order products, sonobody can just go to the pottery and buy the product but they need to put an order because thesestocks were not always available. The potters will only manufacture these products when there areorders, so customers have to wait if they need the products.
Table 1 also manifests the respondents’ satisfaction level as to the quality of the products. It
shows that the top three products which the respondents rated “Very Satisfied” with a rating of 4.91,4.88 and 4.8 were Fowl Feeders, Cooking pots, and Flower Pots respectively. The workers or thepotters were already experts in producing fowl feeders, cooking pots and flower pots because thesewere the first products they produced since the beginning of the pottery operation. On the other hand,
the last three products in the rank were Bonsai Pots, Plants Stand and Hollow Blocks. These products
were rated 3.97 Satisfied, 4.32, Very Satisfied, and 4.54 Very Satisfied respectively. When thecustomers were asked further why they ranked these products in the lowest three ranks, they said
they oftentimes saw cracks in the products, although the potters can also remedy the cracks by puttingⒸ ISERD

44

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2017) 8-2additional clay on the cracks but the more it made the product not presentable anymore because thecracks were still evident.
The customers further commented that there were products which need glazing which theworkers had no knowledge yet on how to do it. The workers started painting some products like theMontabana and Haron Jar but these products will look much better if these will be glazed according
to the customers in the interview. The customers suggested that these workers be educated/ trained
further on some techniques to produce better products.
Table 1 Respondents’ Satisfaction level on the Quantity, Quality and Timeliness of theDelivery of the Products
Products
Cooking Pots /Stoves
Flower Pots
Flower Vase with Stand
Haron Jar
Water Jar
Montabana
Plant Stand
Bonsai Pots
Fire Bricks
Hollow Blocks
Fowl Feeders

NR
4.85
4.85
3.11
3.83
4.69
3.41
3.82
3.97
2.63
2.61
4.92

Quantity
DRVS
VS
MS
S
VS
S
S
SMS
MDVS

R
32
9
6
48
7
510
11
1

NR
4.88
4.80
4.60
4.61
4.69
4.55
4.32
3.97
4.68
4.54
4.91

Quality
DR RVS
2VS
3VS
7VS
6VS
4VS8VS 10S
11VS
5VS9VS1Timeliness
NRDRR
4.85 VS3
4.93 VS
2
3.46
S
93.84
S
64.72 VS
43.43
S
113.84
S
74.03
S
5
3.45
S
10
3.47
S
84.97 VS
1Ave.
WM
4.85
4.86
3.72
4.09
4.7
3.79
3.99
3.99
3.57
3.54
4.93

DR

R

VSVS
S
S
VS
S
S
SS
S
VS

3
2
95
48
6.5
6.5
1011
1

In terms of the satisfaction level on the timeliness of the delivery of products, it was also
included in this study because it can affect the operation if the products were not delivered on time.
The result shows that all items to be delivered were rated from Satisfactory to Very Satisfactory. On
the same table, it clearly discloses that the first three items in quantity and quality were also the first
three in the timeliness of delivery. It was obvious that since these items were readily available then,it can be delivered on time. However, hollow blocks, flower vase with stand, fire bricks andMontabana were the last in terms of timeliness in the delivery since these were made- to- orderproducts. The potters will only manufacture these products when there are orders. So it took time forthe potter to deliver and customers have to wait after making the order.
Per observation, the researchers noticed that this pottery industry has problems just like anyother endeavours and so they included these in the study to find out the seriousness of the problems
they meet in running the pottery industry. Three groups were asked to answer the questionnaires on
the seriousness of the problems; the proprietors, the workers based on their experience; and thecustomers based on their perception and observation in the operation.
The proprietors’ top three problems in managing the pottery were marketing mechanism which
they rated 4.8 “Very Serious” Shortage of working capital with a rating of 4.24 “Very Serious” andLack of Diversification 4.20 “Serious”. It can be gleaned that marketing mechanism was really
important to make the industry more productive. The two problems on shortage of working capitaland the lack of diversification were interrelated because any industry can have the difficulty ofdiversifying the products if there is shortage of capital which usually lead to lesser productivity. Thefindings are in consonance with what Kasemi (2014) stated, that lack of diversification of the productalso accounts for slow growth of the pottery sector.

Ⓒ ISERD

45

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2017) 8-2

Table 2 Problems Experienced by the Proprietors and Workers and as Perceived by theCustomers
Problems
Shortage of working
capitalLow investment in
fixed capital
Obsolete Technology
Lack of diversification
Competition of otherpottery industries
Management Problem
Lack of Research andDevelopment Effort
Marketing Mechanism

NR

Proprietor
DRRNR

WorkersDR RNR

Customers
DRRAve.
WMDRR

4.24

VS2

4.8

VS24.24

VS

64.43

VS

2

3.44

S

7.5

4.24

VS

44.4

VS

4.5

4.03

S

54.0

S

45.0

VS

15.0

VS

1.5

4.67

VS

14.20

S

34.6

VS

34.8

VS

3

4.5

VS

3

3.46

S

63.48

S

64.0

S

7.5

3.65

S

8

3.48

S

54.0

S

54.0

S

7.5

3.83

S

73.44

S

7.5

3.48

S

85.0

VS

1.5

3.97

S

64.8

VS

1

3.46

VS

8

4.4

VS

4.5

4.22

S4On the other hand, on the workers’ part, their first three problems were obsolete technology
which they rated 5.0, Shortage of Working Capital, 4.8 and lack of diversification, 4.6 all were ofdescriptive rating “Very Serious”. Since the workers were the front liner of production, they reallyfelt that the facilities used were already obsolete, in the interview they said, they can have better
product and improved productivity if the new facilities will be given to them. It can be understoodthat the problem on the obsolescence of the facilities can be attributed to shortage of working capitalwhich also affected the diversification of the products.
On the part of the customers, they really felt that the industry were having that problem on
obsolete technology which got a tie in rating with lack of research and development efforts, both got
a rating of 5.0 or Very Serious. Through research and development effort, the lack of diversification
problem can be addressed which they also rated as the third problem of the industry.
For the overall rating, it shows that the first problem was the obsolete technology, followed byshortage of working capital, lack of diversification; marketing mechanism followed closely then low
investment on fixed capital. The last three among the identified problems were the lack of researchand development effort, management problems and competition among pottery industry. It showsthat though the pottery industry felt there were competitors in the business, they did not consider it
as a very serious problem that could greatly affect the operation.
CONCLUSION
The village type pottery industry despite being run by family members who lacked proper training
with limited experience and resources and using obsolete facilities, was able to survive for manyyears in operation. The industry slowly improved its operation, the product quantity and quality andmost of all on how to satisfy the needs of the customers.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the LGU of the village may consider looking for financial institutions which
can provide additional capital because if the pottery can have additional capital other problems canbe solved. The state university through its extension mandate, has to work closely for theimprovement of the product quality, teach additional designs and techniques for diversification andadvancement and help produce better facilities and equipment of the pottery in the villageⒸ ISERD46

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2017) 8-2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThe researchers would like to express their appreciation and gratitude to Bohol Island State
University for the support given to the researchers, to the proprietors, workers, customers of theVillage-Type Pottery Industry in Talibon, Bohol, Philippines for answering the questionnaires aswell as the interview and for allowing the researchers to have an actual observation in the operation.
They would also like to express their thanks to the OIC President of BISU for allowing them to use
all available resources of the university to complete this piece of work.
REFERENCES
Dinsdale, A. 1986. Pottery science, Materials, process and products. Ellis Horwood Limited.
Kasemi, N. 2014. Problems of pottery industry and policies for development, Case study of koch Bihar districtin West Bengal, India. http://www.garph.co.uk/ijarmss/july2014/20.pdf (retrieved on October 25, 2016).
Martini, J., Obille, V.P., Apigo, A., Gongora, C., Labsan, R., Navalta, M. and Oringo, F. 2016. Historicalbackground of the pottery industry in Taboc, San Juan, La Union. http://www.dlsu.edu.ph/conferences/dlsu-research-congress-proceedings/2016/LCS/LCCS-I-01.pdf (retrieved on December 17, 2016).
The Clay Minerals Society. 1995. http://www.clays.org/journal/archive/volume%2043/43-2-255.pdf (retrievedon September 22, 2013).
The Dolni Vestonice Ceramics. Uh.edu. 1989-11-24. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery (retrieved onNovember 23, 2016).

Ⓒ ISERD47