Veggie noodle project
 01 May 2008

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A MAJOR project also processed at the last Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee (ICC) meeting, was the Veggie Noodle Project of the Benguet State University (BSU).

As an offshoot of the working visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to La Trinidad, Benguet last March 22, 2008 (Black Saturday), where the project was presented, Presidential directives were given to ensure that BSU’s vegetable noodle project is carried out and credit assistance to the project is made available.

The veggie noodle project is part of a much bigger BSU project -- the "Vegetable Noodle and Veggie Meat Processing Center Project." A collaborative effort between BSU, the Benguet Provincial Government and the Department of Agriculture — Cordillera Autonomous Region (DACAR), this project will improve the quality and increase the quantity of marketable, processed, semitemperate agricultural products. It will consist of a modern post-harvest, processing and automated analytical system that will convert fresh agricultural produce into quality vegetable products, like the instant noodles.

To jumpstart the project, the President released a seed fund of R10 million, to partly cover the estimated R18.5 million budget needed for the full implementation of the project.

In creating new products out of vegetables, the project will augment incomes and support employment of about 135,000 farmers and 205,000 food handlers and manufacturers. Some 50,000 jobs will also be generated in three years. Additional positive outcomes include reduction in post-production cost and increased consumption of vegetables through affordable prices.

The vegetable-fortified noodles are said to be more nutritious and more delicious. The processing and manufacturing is less costly, thus, it will improve the farmers’ income with better margins. It can also solve the storage problems associated with quickly perishable vegetables.

According to Dr. Violeta Salda of BSU, the project is a three-year undertaking involving five (5) phases of development, and is still in the pre-implementation stage. But the President wants this project to be implemented as soon as possible, thus arrangements are being made to accelerate project development, to attain mass production and distribution of the noodles within the year.

Already, an Inter-Agency Group (IAG) was created, led by the Department of Science and Technology (DoST), with BSU, Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), People’s Credit and Finance Corporation (PCFC), the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), and concerned Local Government Units (LGUs) as members. To ensure private sector participation, the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE) was also tapped. The IAG is tasked to come up next month with an overall Action Plan for the accelerated implementation of the project.

Both DTI and PCFC will ensure the availability of a micro-credit loan facility for the financial requirements of vegetable growers, smallscale processors and other participating stakeholders.

Tomorrow, Friday (May 2, 2008), the IAG will meet at BSU to discuss and finalize the action plan.

In short order, we should have veggie noodles and a whole array of vegetable-based processed food off the shelf of our Tindahan Natin network.

By the way, tonight is the launching of Atty. Kito Mendoza’s biographical work, Shapes of Memory, Memoirs of a Freedom Fighter and Trade Unionist, a riveting narrative that sweeps through pre- and post-war Cebu.

Don’t miss this, when it hits the bookstands.

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