The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Region 2 headed by Regional Director (RD) Leah Pulido Ocampo attended the 4th Peanut Festival in support of the peanut farmers in Enrile, Cagayan last 03 August 2022.

The peanut festival is a celebration of the promising opportunities of the peanut, which is a subsector of the Processed Fruits and Nuts (PFN) industry. Since 2015, Enrile has been the Peanut Capital of the Philippines.

“DTI R2 is embarking on a more focused and purposeful set of interventions to enable the peanut industry to flourish in the region. DTI support will be geared towards reinvigorating the growth and development of the industry not only in terms of expansion of production but more importantly towards value-adding interventions and other packages of assistance that include product development, packaging and labeling, branding, productivity improvement, and marketing and promotion,” said RD Ocampo during her message as she emphasized the importance of value-adding in increasing the income of the farmers.

Moreover, RD Ocampo mentioned that the sending of raw materials to Growers Food Industries Enterprise Incorporated is a baby step in assisting the peanut farmers of the municipality. Their bountiful harvest is an opportunity for Enrile to supply the demand of the whole country, as the Philippines is still import-dependent on this commodity.

RD Ocampo highlighted DTI R2’s assistance, such as FDA-LTO certification, Shared Service Facility (SSF), and the different skills training available in DTI R2 to help Enrile farmers.

Together with RD Ocampo in this festival are DTI R2-Cagayan PD Henry O Conel Jr., who served as a judge in the peanut-based recipes cooking contest, Mr. Romeo Panopio II, PFN Industry Regional Focal Person who discussed Farmer-to-Processor Market Linkage Initiative by DTI R2 and Maricris Galinggana, Cagayan Focal person for PFN who also presented DTI R2 Cagayan’s programs, projects, and activities.

In the end, RD Ocampo encouraged the farmers to process their raw materials as well as to form an organization for them to avail the services of the government agencies. She also declared her strong support for Mayor Decena’s direction to have a convergence project with the government agencies to help the peanut farmers in the region.

⬥ Release of date: 25 August 2022