NORTHERN MINDANAO — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-10 through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) partners with Innovation thru Leveraging Industry, Government, Academe Networks, and inclusive Community Engagements (ILIGANiCE) Program to provide consultancy and guidance services to Bualan Agrarian Reform Community Cooperative (BARCOCO) in Bualan, Tubod, Lanao del Norte .
The consultancy and guidance services were intended to improve and upscale BARCOCO’s banana flour production.
ILIGANiCE is a program spearheaded by the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), DTI, and Iligan Chamber of Commerce. It aims to establish a more cohesive and dynamic research and innovation ecosystem through active engagements, research collaborations, and partnerships.
ILIGANiCE is also one of the banner programs under the Regional Inclusive Innovation Center initiative in Region 10.
ILIGANiCE, with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Engineer, Eulalio Creencia, and together with DTI- CARP Lanao Del Norte conducted an inspection for the standardization process and technical assistance of BARCOCO’s banana flour production on April 18, 2023.
The inspection was also participated by BS Entrepreneurship student interns from Tubod Lanao del Norte College.
The activity resulted to the crafting of several recommendations and areas for improvement for BARCOCO’s banana flour production. One of the key findings was the reconfiguration of its solar drying facility, which includes the placement of additional circulating and exhaust fans and humidity meter.
A recommendation to reconfigure the mechanical dryer to increase the surface area of the tubes to supply greater amount of heating air was also made.
“Dako among pasalamat sa DTI-CARP, DAR, PCO, ILIGANICE, Tubod College ug uban pang ahensya sa gobyerno nga nitabang sa amoa, ma-realize ang among mga pangandoy ug mobangon ang among kooperatiba ilabina kining sa among income generating project (IGP) sa banana flour (I am thankful to DTI-CARP, CAR, PCO, ILIGANiCE, Tubod College and other government agencies who assisted us, helped us realize our dreams and for our cooperative to rise especially our IGP project which is banana flour).” Virgilia A. Samaniego, chairperson of BARCOCO, said. ♦ (Christopher Leonard T. Casinillo)
Date of Release: 26 April 2023