The Provincial Agriculturist’s Office achieved a significant milestone after it has successfully conducted its first virtual training for farmers and Agricultural Extension Workers. On May 25-27, 2021, PAgO conducted the virtual training on Postharvest Handling of High Value Commercial Crops via Zoom application. Participated by 70 farmers and AEWs, the three-day virtual training was also viewed by more than 1,300 on Facebook live.

Due to the covid-19 pandemic, the conduct of face-to-face training was restricted, however this did not hinder the office to implement its capability building activities for Mindoro farmers. Ms. Christine M. Pine, the Provincial Agriculturist pointed out that this is just the start of the series of virtual trainings to be conducted by PAgO for 2021. She added that even last year with more stricter quarantine measures, PAgO has developed audio visual presentation (AVP) materials to ensure the continued capacitation of farmers.

Ms. Leonisa A. Artes, University Extension Specialist II from the ASEAN Postharvest Horticulture Training and Research Center of UPLB served as the resource speaker. The topics discussed include the status on postharvest losses of banana, calamansi, and Pakbet vegetables. A detailed presentation and discussion on postharvest techniques and procedures of the focused commodity such as cleaning, pre-treatment, packaging, processing, storage, transportation, and distribution highlighted the three-day webinar.

Postharvest losses of agricultural commodities accounts for a significant loss of about 20-30 percent of production output, the virtual training is just one of PAgO’s strategies to help our farmers minimize postharvest losses. The office will be also distributing 430 pieces of plastic crates to farmer associations to improve their postharvest handling practices, help them increase their income and in return help the province attain a higher level of food security.