Thirty members of the association of the differently-abled persons in Iloilo were trained on Enterprise Development and Marketing of Organically Grown Vegetables, Fruits and Herb Products at Remnant Institute, Inc., La Paz, Iloilo City.

Maria Teresa T. Solis, chief of the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) 6, said the two-day training aims to capacitate differently-abled persons who are members of cooperatives from the municipalities of Leganes, Tigbauan and Barotac Viejo.
Karen Laurico, focal person of AMAD 6, also said that the activity will provide them livelihood through processing organic products for health and beauty purposes.

Meanwhile, Engr. Lemie Segura Leonida, vice mayor of Lambunao, discussed about herb production, processing, utilization, and marketing. Being an advocate of organic agriculture, she encouraged the participants to expand their respective areas for herbs because of its high demand for processing of alternative medicine.

She stressed that traditional alternative medicine is the healthiest way to prevent diseases due to individual’s lifestyle saying that “our food is also our medicine.”
Leonida noted that herbal tourism could generate employment, conserve resources and preserve the traditional practices of healing using herbal plants.

The participants were also taught about the importance of product packaging and labeling by Engr. Janene Denila, Project Assistant II from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) VI./WDJ