DTI-Cebu turns over shared service facilities to two farmers group

The Department of Trade and Industry turned over shared service facility (SSF) to a farmers’ group in Barangay Batad, San Remegio, Cebu. The sugarcane juice is processed through the SSF./DTI photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Two farmers group in San Remegio town and in Camotes Island now have the capability of processing their own products after the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Cebu provincial office turned over to them a shared service facility (SSF).

Small farmers in Barangay Batad, San Remegio can now process their own ready-to-drink sugarcane juice through the SSF for their use.

DTI entered into an agreement with the project cooperator, the Batad Small Farmers Association (BASFA) during the launching of the facility last March 12.

The equipment provided by DTI includes one unit of sugarcane juice extractor, two units of electric-powered sugarcane extractor, six units of sugarcane peeler, two sets of juice filtration unit, two sets of pasteurizing units, an automatic filing and sealing machine for packaging, two units of chest freezers and a standby generating set.

BASFA is a group of marginalized farmers from Barangay Batad, San Remigio, Cebu. The group’s members include farmers who are engaged in corn crop and vegetable production as well as backyard livestock-raising.

The association was organized in 2004 with the help of JICA Peace Corp. with a membership of 99 household. It was registered with the Department of Labor and Employment on the same year.

Meanwhile, DTI also turned over an SSF for cassava products processing to the Camotes Multipurpose Cooperative based in Barangay Sta. Cruz, San Francisco, Camotes Islands, Cebu.

The SSF equipment included one unit of cassava granulator, two units of cassava chipper, a pulverizing machine unit, two units of mechanical rotary dryer, a cabinet type dryer, two units of flourmill, two units of root crop grating machine, a spinner machine, a water tank, 10 units of containers, a 1,000-kg capacity mobile solar dryer and a vertical bag packing machine unit.

The core business of the Camotes Multipurpose Cooperative include agri-financing, cassava production and marketing, cacao production, coconut growing and production, organic farming, lease of farm equipment and cargo vehicles, and providing capacity building training and programs for its member farmers.

The SSF on Cassava Products Processing will benefit 500 coop members and 1,000 farmers.

According to DTI-Cebu in their Facebook post, their SSF project addresses the gaps and bottlenecks in the value chain of priority industry clusters through the provision of equipment and tools for the common use of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

This project aims to increase productivity and efficiency of MSMEs to help achieve poverty alleviation in the country./dcb