Putting in place the agriculture mechanization can boost the interest of farmers to see themselves as producing consumer products not just of farm commodity products.

Aside from concentrating on production, the Department of Agriculture together with the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) encourages farmers to be attuned to the needs of the marketplace.

With this, outstanding farmer-graduates of School-on-the-Air (SOA) on Coffee and Cacao accompanied by their SOA Coordinators participated the hands-on training on post-harvest technologies last July 11 held at DA-PhilMech, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

“To enrich what we have started from the SOA we are now introducing the recommended value adding technologies to which farmers can adopt and may lead them to create more market opportunities. This is in addition to the postharvest mechanization lesson that we had,” said DA-PhilMech – Applied Communications Division Chief Rodolfo Estigoy.

Considering the Philippine’s Cacao 2022 Challenge that targeted to produce a total of 100,000 metric tons of fermented beans, PhilMech has projected that an equivalent of 633 million kilograms of waste from cacao pod husk will also be generated if it remains unutilized.

One solution that is seen to address this is to add value-adding enterprise to cacao production by utilizing its wastes products. After a thorough study, PhilMech has developed cacao husk as an environment-friendly fuel briquette.

Today farmers need interesting and exciting ventures where they can utilize their energy and be more productive. The utilization of cacao wastes for commercial and industrial applications has given the farmers bright prospects with their commodities.

“Cacao beans are primarily used in tablea or chocolate processing but through this training, I am amazed that cacao wastes such as pod husks and sweatings can still be utilized as fuel briquettes and cacao drinks or vinegar. We can still make more by-products from our farm wastes that will give us additional income and could possibly generate additional jobs to our community,” said Melona Solana a cacao farmer from Cabadbaran City.

The growing demand for cacao and coffee locally and internationally is the driving force for the Department’s continued support to the local farmers in the region. DA provides interventions such as planting materials, technical assistance and various postharvest facilities and equipment. Empowering farmers economically through mechanization and postharvest technologies opens new opportunities for farmers to become more profitable.

“The technologies that were introduced are viable for the cacao and coffee farmers in our municipality. The training is an instrument to help improve their products and increase their income.  I am excited to share what I have learned from this training,” said Buenavista, Agusan del Norte OIC-Municipal Agriculturist Elmer Claros. (Rhea C. Abao, DA-Caraga Information Section)