The staff of the Postharvest Horticulture Training and Research Center (PHTRC), headed by the project leader and director of the center, Dr. Elda B. Esguerra, conducted an “Awareness Seminar on Postharvest Handling of Vegetables (Focus on Tomatoes)” last July 25 at Binuangan, Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya. Majority of the participants were composed of 87 farmers and traders from the towns of Dupax del Norte, Kasibu and Villaverde. Also present were the members of the Municipal Agriculture Office of Dupax del Norte, representatives from the Provincial Agriculture Office of Nueva Vizcaya, barangay officials of Binuangan and market experts from Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal (NVAT), Incorporated. No less than the mayor of Dupax del Norte, Atty. Timothy Joseph Cayton, welcomed the participants and organizers of the seminar. Dr. Esguerra pointed out the objectives and importance of the project and the awareness seminar. Municipal Agriculturist Genesis Dugay of Dupax del Norte presented the status of the tomato industry. NVAT General Manager Gilbert Cumila talked about the marketing of tomatoes in their trading post. Meanwhile, Dr. Esguerra discussed the basic principles of postharvest handling of tomatoes and other vegetables. Quality and safety management was lectured by Wella Absulio while market preparation and packaging was presented by Engr. Ryan Anthony Lualhati. This seminar was part of the United Nations-Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO) funded research project titled “Capacity development and technical support to generate an evidence base and inform the scale up of postharvest loss reduction of selected horticultural crop, toward achieving SDG 12.3 in the Philippines” that was launched last March 1 and being implemented by the PHTRC. Other activities of the project were the turnover of fabricated sorting tables to the Conwap Valley Multipurpose Cooperative, the cooperator, and actual loss assessment the day after the seminar. (RAO Lualhati)
