29 Kalinga entrepreneurs train on food processing

Tabuk, Kalinga (19 December) — Small entrepreneurs in the food processing business here underwent a three-day seminar-training on livelihood offered by the local government unit (LGU) of Tabuk and the Department of Science and Technology – Kalinga Science and Technology Center (DOST-KSTC).

According to Dexy Catacutan of KSTC, an all-woman entrepreneur composed of 29 Kalipi members from San Julian this municipality were trained on noodles making, taro chips and cornik making.

“Participants were taught the process of making vegetable soup out of malunggay, squash, carrot, and saluyot”, she said. She added that the vegetables considered for making noodles are rich in vitamins and nutrients and are available right on household backyards or affordable in the market.

Kalinga has high malnutrition rate and the vegetables selected aside from their abundance could also help solve malnutrition incidence in the province, Catacutan pointed out.

On cornik making, she said corn is the second major product of the province and this livelihood is an alternative business of processing white corn, she said.

On the other hand, taro is found in the forest of Kalinga. Processors can save on production cost since it is extracted free”, Catacutan added.

She said this is also an employment opportunity for women in the community and a source of additional income for their families.

With the LGU’s assistance, DOST assists these entrepreneurs on the technology and the provision of equipment, Catacutan said.

Two other enterprises applied for laboratory analysis of their products to promote their quality and to further establish safety of consumers.

Laboratory testing of Norma’s buko pie and Elda ‘s banana chips are on-going, Catacutan said. (PIA)