A shared service facility (SSF) helped a farmers’ cooperative in Antique to process their surplus vegetable products, generating more income.

“Since squash and other vegetables are abundant in our municipality, we decided to produce squash noodles and powder, veggie sticks, and malunggay powder,” said Zenia Nacionales, manager of the Esparar Multi-Purpose Cooperative (MPC) in an interview on Friday.

Instead of leaving the vegetables to rot due to a lack of market, they thought of processing them into noodles, chips, and powder, she added.

They bought squash from their members for PHP10 to PHP15 per kilo, she said.

They sell their processed products during trade fairs and on an order basis.

With the SSF, their production increased, and their monthly income rose to PHP25,000 from just over PHP10,000.

“Our farmer-members, in addition to selling their farm produce to the MPC, get a patronage refund as coop members at the end of the year,” she said.

Currently, they have 10 farmer-members hired as food processors, and five others are on-call whenever they have huge orders.

They also availed of training on packing and costing from the DTI.

“We are preparing for the Panublion trade fair this December. We are hopeful to make good sales,” she said.

The Panublion trade fair is among the activities lined up for the month-long Binirayan Festival of Antique in December.

The DTI provided the cooperative, based in Barbaza, Antique, with an SSF in 2016 and additional equipment in 2018.

Among the available equipment are a grinder, dryer, baking mixer, moisture tester and cutter. (PNA)