BALANGA CITY — Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) awarded Thursday food processing equipment to five cooperatives in Bataan.
Recipients include Alion Kapit-Bisig SEA-K Association, Kaliwanag Rural Improvement Club (RIC), Samaleño Organiko Producers Cooperative (SOPCO), and Kababaihan ng Bataan Tungo sa Kaunlaran (KABAKA) in Samal and Hermosa.
DTI Provincial Director Nelin Cabahug said the equipment are intended towards inclusive growth and jobs generation of the beneficiaries.
“The turn-over is under our Shared Service Facility (SSF) program wherein beneficiaries are cooperators who were assessed based on their capability to improve production processes in terms of quality, productivity and efficiency,” Cabahug said.
Alion Kapit-Bisig SEA-K Association, an SSF cooperator on cashew processing, was awarded with one unit of automatic peanut butter making machine, manual induction sealer and two stainless working tables.
As banana chips and tahong processors, Kaliwanag RIC received a mechanical banana slicer machine, stainless steel deep fryer, horizontal band sealer, stainless working table with sink, and weighing scale.
Meanwhile, SOPCO that processes organic fertilizers, is thankful for receiving a 7-in-1 multi-purpose equipment with built-in segregator.
KABAKA-Samal, with the Integrated Aqua Processing Project, was awarded with a noodle machine, stainless steel twin deep fryer, foot sealer, sorting table, and heavy duty blender while KABAKA-Hermosa which manufactures processed meat products received a meat grinder, meat mixer, digital weighing scale, automatic vacuum packaging machine, sausage filling machine, chest-type freezer and two stainless working table.
Elizabeth Paglinawan, President of the Alion Kapit-Bisig SEA-K Association, expressed her gratitude to DTI for continuously granting them the equipment needed to upgrade the quality of their products and services to customers.
“Thank you, DTI because with the SSF equipment, we will be able to increase the volume of our production and at the same time boost sales,” she said.