The Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) has turned over PHP6 million worth of equipment to a Davao del Sur farmers’ cooperative to boost their cacao beans processing and promotion, an official said Wednesday.

Mila Corpuz, DA-PRDP deputy project director and concurrent DA regional technical director, said the Malalag Cacao Growers Association (MACAGROA) received the dried fermented cacao beans processing and marketing enterprise subproject on Tuesday.

“It is important that the whole community will share the benefits from this subproject in terms of providing jobs and increasing incomes, especially for women,” Corpuz said in an interview.

She also expressed confidence in MACAGROA’s ability to manage the project and assured their support to the cooperative.

Corpuz said the subproject will address the equipment and processing facilities shortage of MACAGROA, based in Malalag town, Davao del Sur province.

The farmer members of the association received a solar dryer facility that complies with good manufacturing practices, a hauling and delivery truck, a motorcycle, a truck shed and additional working capital to purchase wet cacao beans.

“These interventions will help cacao farmers to get a fair and just price, lower transportation costs and reduced processing time of producing premium quality fermented dry cacao beans,” she said.

MACAGROA, for its part, hopes to achieve its goal and objectives by hitting an annual sales target of 38 metric tons of fermented dry cacao beans. (PNA)