TARLAC CITY – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Tarlac trained 20 members of the Baquero Sur Farmers Agriculture Cooperative on eggplant processing to help them turn surplus produce into an income source.
Conducted under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), the training aimed to assist the group in transforming their excess eggplant harvests into value-added food products and provide sustainable livelihood opportunities between harvests.
DTI Trade-Industry Development Specialist Krizia Dela Cruz encouraged the participants to build on their learnings from the activity.
“May the participants enrich the learning from the activity, as this may spark a new livelihood for the cooperative,” she said.
The activity featured a hands-on session led by resource speaker Danilo Gacusan, who demonstrated how to prepare a variety of eggplant-based products including moussaka, burger patties, finger fries, eggplant balls, and pickles.
He also discussed basic food safety, product costing, and pricing strategies to guide participants in starting small food enterprises.
One of the participants, Liolita Mañalac, expressed her gratitude for the intervention, noting that it addressed their challenge of overproduction.
“We extend our thanks to DTI-CARP, as we are unsure of what we can do with our overproduction. With this activity, we gained new knowledge and skills. This will help not only our cooperative, but also our members–a new business opportunity for them,” she shared.
As part of its continued support, DTI will include the cooperative in the Regional CARP Trade Fair scheduled in the fourth quarter of the year. (MJSC/MAECR, PIA Region 3-Tarlac)