Cidami to train 70 farmers on cacao
Cacao Industry Development Association of Mindanao, Inc. (Cidami) will be training 70 farmers in the city who have expressed their interest to shift to cacao farming at the start of next year.
In an interview with Cidami President Val Turtur, he said the training of the additional cacao farmers is in response to the cacao industry's goal to expand the production from 50 metric tons to 100,00 metric tons of cacao beans by 2022.
"Big cacao producers want to teach them how to produce quality beans considering that they do not have history of growing cacaos," he said.
Turtur said the training will consist of capacity-building excercises to teach them the proper procedures in growing cacao beans and the marketing and selling strategies.
The training, he added, is also needed as it is a requirement by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow them to sell their products in the local market.
In the Chocolate Festival held at SM City Ecoland last October 12, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said the city government will be alloting P2 million for the local cacao industry.
"We are very thankful that our good mayor is extending its support to us by giving our industry financial support," he said.
The P2 million budget alloted by the city, Turtur said, will be allocated on the training of the incoming cacao farmers next year.
Meanwhile, he said there are atleast 60 sugarcane farmers in Iloilo City and Negros Occidental have already shifted into cacao farming in the middle of this year through
to provide them with the housing program.
“We would also want to take care of this sector because they are big contributory in the economy. It seemed like they have been taken for granted when it comes to housing programs,” she said adding they are considering rent-to-own high-rise residential buildings for these types of employees.
Lagmay said lack of security tenure can also be attributed to the fact that most of BPO employees are young professionals who are not yet into long-term investments such as housing developments but are instead invested into travelling and gadgets. JPA