Fifteen women from the coastal communities in Santo Tomas, La Union successfully completed the livelihood training on milkfish processing and value addition. The training was held at the College of Fisheries Function Hall and Food Processing Laboratories on April 8-10, 2022.

It was comprised of three parts: food safety standards and basic packaging, milkfish processing, and value addition. The first day of training was devoted on overview of milkfish processing, food safety standards, basic packaging and labelling, and basic product marketing. Ms. Marlen C. Tunga, Ms. Danica May D. Lawagan, and Ms. Dianne A. Aquino, extension facilitator of CF, served as learning service providers.

On the second day, food processing experts, Mr. Marvin M. Aquino and Mr. Cjay B. Soliven, also the over-all training coordinator taught them processing technologies namely bangus deboning, marinating, smoking, and bottling. The participants were also trained on value addition technologies such as bangus polvoron and bangus shanghai-making by Ms. Edna S. Aloot.

This Gender and Development- infused capacity training followed a mix of lectures, hands-on exercise, and written tests with strong emphasis on return demonstration and presentation of outputs to maximize the transfer of learning.

This three-day training was made possible through the support of CF faculty members and nonteaching personnel, Dr. Joanne C. Rivera, SLUC Chancellor; Prof. Ronald B. Bustos, Head for Internationalization, Linkages and Extension; Dr. Jinnie R. Mamhot, CF Dean; and Dr. Faith S. Tadeo and Prof. Valentino V. Prado, Program Chairs.  

Participants from the Barangays of Cupang, Raois, Ubagan, and Narvacan promised to establish livelihood associations for fellow women in their home barangays as their means of paying forward.  (Ronald B. Bustos)