Baguio City, Philippines – 11 farmers-organizations in Baguio and Benguet could now save unsold veggies, especially when oversupply occurs, after having undergone training on food preservation through vegetable dehydration held on October 14-15, 2021, through the Department of Agriculture- Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD).
Trained were the Irisan Women’s Organization, Favulous Farmers Tribes, Pinget Rural Improvement Club, Vegetable Salad and Processing Association Incorporation, Buguias-Japan Agricultural Trainees Association, Happy Hallow Farmers Organization, Happy Hallow Urban Improvement Association, High Value Crops Agricultural Cooperative, Barangay Lucnab Agriculture and Fisheries Association, Irisan Kapi Association and 4H Club – La Trinidad.
Said training, according to DA-Cordillera, introduces investment opportunities on food preservation to add value and prolong the shelf life of products before selling or consuming them.
During the training, three veggies, namely carrots, chayote, and tomato, were the commodities used for vegetable dehydration processing. How it was prepared before dehydration and prior to its packing was also demonstrated.
Benefits of dehydration process
Lesley Umayat, Assistant Director on Food Science and Research Innovation Center – Benguet State University and Resource Speaker during the training told through DA-CAR the benefits of having the said training.
According to her, the sweetened dehydrated food produced from the dehydration process is healthier, budget-friendly, and can serve as an alternative ready-to-eat snack available in the local market.
Aside from this, said products could also serve as an alternative measure in solving the oversupply of vegetable commodities which a farmer-participant supported, saying that through processing, farmers could still gain from unsold goods due to oversupply instead of disposing of them.
As recalled, recent incidents which surfaced on social media involved farmers throwing tomatoes harvest since they have no buyers and considering that said vegetables rot easily.
What DA expects from participants?
Jocelyn Beray, Section Head of AMAD-Agribusiness Promotion Section, meantime challenged the participants of the two-day training to apply what they have learned, as she encouraged them to invest in developing a market of dehydrated vegetables.
To further encourage them, Beray said that a dehydrator will be prepared for the scheduled trials or experiments of the organizations’ soon-to-be products processed through dehydration.
Beray also informed that the DA-Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) loan programs for possible investment proposals are being offered by the agency.
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