URBAN FARMER

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BY JULIO P. YAP JR.
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Supporting agri-coops

WITH a strong determination, a group of women belonging to the Ormoc Uphill Agri-Processors Association persisted to bring back their business venture after their project suffered a setback when super typhoon “Yolanda” hit Leyte in 2013.
The rehabilitation of the cooperative’s operation was made possible through the grant-in-aid (GAP) funding which was provided by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for the acquisition of food grade equipment and tools.
The coop processes pineapple marmalade, and produces a special kind of piña torta.
Ormoc Uphill Agri-Processors Association president May Villamor Monsalud said they have to revive their business endeavour because the market for their products has already been established beforehand.
“Our modest business venture, which can provide us with an indispensable additional income, was totally devastated when super typhoon struck the province of Leyte in November 6, 2013,” Monsalud related.
But the intervention provided by the Region-8 office of the DOST and the Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU) Ormoc City Campus has helped us to rebuild our business, together with our dreams, Monsalud added.
Through the GAP funding, the establishment of a Common Service Facility (CSF) for fruit preserve processing was established at the Our Lady of Lourdes Village in Barangay Dolores, Ormoc City.
Under the supervision of the DOST’s Eastern Visayas Food Safety Team and the EVSU Food Technology Department, the coop’s new processing plant, which was completed last January, is now compliant with the requirements of Good Manufacturing Practices or GMP.
The DOST in Region-8 and EVSU-Ormoc City Campus are also assisting the women members of the coop to enhance their culinary and marketing skills.
Currently, the Food and Drug Administration has already issued a License to Operate to the coop’s facility.
The coop can now continuously process pineapple preserves and other related food products since the fruit are grown locally in Ormoc and in neighboring areas on a commercial scale.
The project’s common service facility is being managed and operated by the beneficiary group and the supervision of the DOST-8 and EVSU-Ormoc.
Monsalud revealed that they can produce up to 2,500 250-gram bottles of pineapple marmalade per month by processing the Hawaiian variety.
By mixing six kilograms of fresh pineapple with two kilograms of sugar, and the right amount of calamansi juice, the coop can cook the very nice tasting marmalade.
If there are orders, they can also produce pineapple juice by processing the Queen variety.
The coop has also generated an employment opportunity to the people in community by tapping the services of its 22 members, and other villagers residing in the area when the need arises.
The project is packaged under the DOST’s collateral-free Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program./PN
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