LEGAZPI CITY – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) expects a higher income for ginger and turmeric farmers in Camarines Norte with the help of a new processing facility in Barangay Maulawin, Sta. Elena town.
In an interview on Tuesday, DAR-Camarines Norte information officer Erleen Alvarez said the P700,000-facility has a processing and kitchen area under the Village-Level Farm-focused Enterprise Development (VLFED) project.
It will benefit 166 members of the Countryside Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose Cooperative (CARBsMPC). Sta. Elena contributed P300,000 worth of construction materials for the facility and DAR funded the remaining P400,000.
“The building facility was turned over last Feb. 29, 2024. We expect the farmers’ income will increase and the quality of the products they produce will be higher. It will help boost production, and their produce will be cleaner and better. Their equipment and other processing materials are now in a bigger, secure and safe area,” Alvarez said.
She said DAR has teamed up with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the municipal government to provide a better means of livelihood and wider market to the farmer-beneficiaries.
The DOST promised to help the CARBsMPC in the facilitation of product analysis and nutritional facts for the instant “salabat” (ginger tea) as a requirement for approval and securing a Food and Drug Administration license to operate.
The DOST also turned over P496,000 worth of processing equipment and other materials to CARBsMPC under its Grant-in-Aid program last year.
The DTI, on the other hand, will conduct basic costing and pricing seminars for the products and extend marketing assistance to the cooperative.
Alvarez said the CARBsMPC previously produced salabat from 10 kilos of ginger per day through manual processing, but because of the different government interventions provided, they can now produce 50 kilos per day. (PNA)