HOUSEWIVES AND MOTHERS OF MANOLO FORTICH ATTENDS MEAT PROCESSING SKILLS TRAINING

2nd Municipal Livelihood Summit

The 2nd Municipal Livelihood Summit pursues livelihood opportunities not only to local entrepreneurs or experienced practitioners of certain skills, but also to the women of Manolo Fortich. With this, majority of women in the municipality have successfully attended the Meat Processing Skills Training held last November 22 to 23, 2023 at the 3rd Floor Conference Room, Sangguniang Bayan Building, Barangay Tankulan, Manolo Fortich.

The skills training was led by the Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO), and was participated by 28 participants with over 27 of them are housewives and mothers who were interested to learn how to prepare meat into various dishes like Longanisa, Chorizo, Tocino, and Embutido. Other than that, some of them are also local market vendors of the different barangays of Manolo Fortich.

Among the participants is Beulah Raut Raut, 36 years old, a housewife and a mother of two from Barangay San Miguel. She is new to the meat processing industry. According to her, meat processing has more security if it is personally prepared than bought. “Ganahan ko kay makakuha rapud ko og knowledge ani kay lahi ang ipalit nimo sa market, lahi pud ang ikaw mismo ang naghimo. If ikaw naghimo, kabalo ka unsay lasa, kung asa gikan, and unsa gipang butang. So, secured ka para sa imong kids ug para sa inyo as consumers.”

At the same time, Maria Josefa D. Alidon, Senior Agriculturist from MAO and one of the mentors, also gives an important note on food safety and preparation for consumption, “Importante gyud ang food safety, at the same time pud nga sila nga nagprocess, dili ingon na masakiton kay galuto man sila og pagkaon so dapat healthy pud sila. Then, gibuhat gyud siya nga naay demo para mas madumduman gyud nila ang proseso.”

Francis Ray B. Ditona, Agricultural Technician from MAO also served as one of the mentors alongside Alidon. The 2-day skills training they have prepared consisted of a lecture on the first day with topics such as Food Safety, Proper Hygiene, Ingredients in Meat Processing, and Functions of each ingredient. Later on, an extensive workshop was performed by the participants on how to add recipes to the meat, cooking, and then packaging it.

When asked on how the skills training can benefit the participants aside from learning the significance of food safety, Ditona shared that this can also be used as a source of income, “Daghan gyud ta gipang tudlo nga mga proseso sa karne. So, pwede gyud ni nila himuon nga negosyo sa ilang community.”

Moreover, Raut Raut also expressed that she is open to the possibility of using what she learned from the training as livelihood, “If makita nako nga naa koy progress sa pag prepare, pwede nako i-negosyo. For a while, consumption lang sa, and then if ma perfect na nako, ipa try sa akong mga silingan. Kung ganahan sila, then pwede na nako ma negosyo kay sure nako na ganahan ang mga tao.”

The Meat Processing Skills Training turned out to be an opportunity for the women of Manolo Fortich to not only learn new meat dishes for their households, but it also paved the way for them to possibly use their insights gained as an income generating tool. On the other hand, it also honed the existing capabilities of local meat vendors in the community. All of these are the purpose of entrepreneur by heart, Mayor Rogelio N. Quiño, through the 2nd Municipal Livelihood Summit.