Wednesday, January 03, 2007 1st banana chips plant now operating in Mati
THE operation of the first-ever fry banana chips processing plant in Mati, Davao Oriental is another breakthrough in the implementation of the One Town One Product (Otop) program, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Southern Mindanao said.
Assistant Trade Secretary Merly M. Cruz said such investment can already be regarded as a major accomplishment by the various stakeholders in the municipality considering that the Otop program has only been established in 2005.
"The fact that they have encouraged a group to engage into such business is already a manifestation that collaboration is indeed present among the private and public sectors stakeholders in the area. Hopefully, this achievement will go further in the years to come," she said.
The Municipal Government of Mati has been actively pushing for the development of its banana industry because of its potentials. So when the Otop program came in, the municipal's chief executive Francisco Rabat decided to enroll the banana industry as its Otop industry and banana chips as its Otop produce.
The processing plant is owned by Ruben See of the See's International Food Manufacturing Corporation, a known banana chips exporter in the country.
The processing plant, which is located inside the premises of Menzi Farmers Cooperative (Mefco), started its operations just five months ago with an initial investment of P0.475 million.
The company's daily requirement of fresh green cardava banana is between 15 to 20 tons.
Based on the report of DTI-Davao Oriental, a problem on the lack of supply of fresh green cardava banana was experienced during the first few weeks of operation. To address this problem, the active stakeholders of the banana industry throughout the province of Davao Oriental took action by conducting consultations and meetings with the different cardava banana farmers.
With the help of the Mati Banana Industry Council (Mabic), along with the other Municipal Banana Industry Councils in the province, the company's requirement has already been met.
"I hope that the convergence, collaboration, and counter-parting initiatives of those who are involved in the development of Mati's Otop will continue, so that the municipality will constantly gain success," Cruz said.
