KORONDAL CITY, SOUTH COTABATO – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Region 12, through its South Cotabato Provincial Office, has teamed up with the BPI Sinag Foundation to provide bamboo value-adding training to 35 bamboo farmers from Brgy. Maan in the municipality of Tboli, South Cotabato.

The two-day skills training conducted just last week aimed to enhance the skills of the members of the Maan Bamboo Farmers Community in producing market-driven bamboo products.

DTI enlisted the local designer Ivan Raborar, who trained the farmers in making Christmas lanterns, coin banks, and planters, and provided one-on-one consultations for customized mentoring and product assessments of the participants’ existing bamboo products.

The workshop also covered costing and pricing, equipping participants with essential knowledge for managing their businesses.

Barangay Maan in Tboli, predominantly inhabited by Tboli people engaged in farming, also produces bamboo skewers; with the interventions of DTI and the BPI Sinag Foundation, they have been introduced to producing other value-added bamboo products, allowing them to sell at a higher profit margin.

Bamboo is one of the industry clusters being supported by DTI 12 through its Industry Cluster Enhancement (ICE) program.

The agency joins in celebrating Philippine Bamboo Month this September by hosting various bamboo-related events for industry players. ♦

Date of release: 05 September 2023