MARANG farmers and producers in Negros Occidental earned almost P86,000 during the three-day 2nd Marang Festival held at the Provincial Capitol Grounds in Bacolod City until Saturday.
Records of the Technology and Livelihood Development Center (TLDC) showed that this year’s top grossers are the farmer-producers from Sagay City, who raked in total generated sales of P35,335.
Those from La Carlota City earned P17,067; Talisay City, P14,185; La Castellana, P10,270; and Murcia, P8,410, it added.
Gerard Tupas, program manager of TLDC, Sunday, August 27, said that aside from equipping the participants with the skills on how to develop their products through innovation, the festival was also a good venue for them to earn bigger income.
He said marang farmer-producers have expressed gratitude to the provincial government for hosting the event, which linked them to more buyers and provided potential market opportunities.
“We hope to gather more participants from other cities and municipalities next year,” Tupas said. “We are urging Negrenses to plant more marang trees and continue to innovate their products.”
Themed “Marang Innovations: Implication to Community Development,” the festival highlighted the need to develop the entire industry chain, from production to marketing.
Some farmer-producers in Calatrava town also joined other activities like marang processing symposiums, and innovation demonstrations, among others.
The Provincial Government, through the TLDC, will provide more product development assistance to local marang producers, Tupas said, reiterating that “innovation is vital in sustaining the industry.”
During the opening program on Thursday, Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. said there is a big future for marang thus, aside from production, the province will push for more innovations especially in developing more byproducts.
“The Provincial Government has been pushing for value-adding to encourage more income opportunities for local marang farmers and producers,” the governor added.
