Ormoc gets post harvest handling techniques
By Ronnie C. Roa
ORMOC CITY – An old technology to preserve the life span of farm products is finally introduced to the city’s farmers.
The post harvest handling technologies on horticulture crops with a theme “Save the Harvest, Raise the Profit” conducted by post harvest expert Dr. Perlita A. Nuevo at the Codilla’s guest house has attracted farmers from 26 lowland and upland villages in the
City
.
In the seminar, farmers got to know the technology using sawdust to prolong the life of their farm produces such as vegetables.
For example, eggplant and tomato if covered by sawdust can sustain its freshness up to 7 days.
Dr. Nuevo said that the technology can also prolong the ripening of the fruit. She said that right stacking and the packaging can also help farmers preserved their products especially when road networks in their areas are not available.
Mayor Beboy Cedilla, for his part, said that the technology was already discovered long ago. “But the program took too long to reach the farmers, I was lucky that in one my travels to other places I discovered things that are applicable to the city.
Meanwhile, visiting officials from Sta. Rita in Samar who were on an educational tour in the city and Visayas State University in nearby Baybay, Leyte send representatives to attend the post harvest handling seminar.
Codilla told the visitors to bring the good news to their constituents and echo what they learned from their educational tour.
“Although sharing with you our technology would pose as our competitor in the near future in supplying the demands of Tacloban, I am will to share with you what we achieved in agriculture,” Codilla told the visitor in jest.
Sta. Rita councilor Danilo Viñas, who heads the touring Samar officials, expressed their gratefulness to the mayor saying, “We are very thankful and appreciative of Mayor Codilla’s generosity and unselfishness in sharing this opportunity to improve the farmers’ lives.
He said their coming was the third time to visit the city.
