SKILLS TRAINING. Farmers from remote communities of Eastern Visayas attend training on improving the designs of local woven products at the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) regional office in Tacloban City. About 50 members of four agrarian reform beneficiary organizations in Eastern Visayas have completed training on improving the design of their products on Saturday (Jan. 18, 2019). (Photo courtesy of DAR Region 8)
TACLOBAN CITY -- About 50 members of four agrarian reform beneficiary organizations (ARBOs) in Eastern Visayas have completed training on improving the design of their products.
The four groups are the Macalpi Community Multi-Purpose Cooperative (MCMPC) in Carigara, Leyte; Hantag Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (HFMPC) in Maasin City, Southern Leyte; the Villahermosa Oriental Farmers and Fisherfolk Association (VOFFA) in Pagsanghan, Samar; and the Cabacungan Multi-Purpose Cooperative (CMPC) in Allen, Northern Samar. Members of these ARBOs are from remote villages.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) main office has commissioned Design Den to train the farmers’ groups to boost the marketability of the handicrafts they manufactured utilizing available raw materials in their area.
These groups completed their training on Saturday through a ceremony at the DAR regional office here.
Handicrafts produced by beneficiaries are made up of indigenous materials available in their respective areas like the coco coir in making plant-holder, sinamay-weaving using abaca, bag and hat-making using buri and romblon.
Cynthia Bodo, an agrarian reform beneficiary-member of MCMPC in Carigara, Leyte could not believe she was able to produce a lampshade made from coco coir during the training
Bodo thanked DAR for exposing them to different trainings to help them earn higher.
Aside from plant-holders, they got ideas from the training to produce other items such as lampshades using coco coir.
CMPC member Marlene Ajihari was also happy about the outcome of the two-day training.
“Before, our designs were simple and limited, and the size of our bag was fixed,” Ajihari said.
During the training, they learned more designs and the use of other raw materials available in their area, such as shells.
Another CMPC member, Consolacion Cabacang, 75, said she learned a lot from the training though she had been a weaver since she was 14.
Rosalinda Cubay, VOFFA member, said that from producing a plain bag that they sell for PHP40 each and used as a container for crabs, they will now produce fashionable bags and accessories which they can sell at a higher price.
Earlier, the DAR has entered an agreement with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to ensure that both their agencies work further in strengthening the livelihood of the Filipino farmers and their families through livelihood skills training. (PNA)
