Cabadbaran Lessons! Processing Local ‘Kalabasa’ Means More Jobs, Income

It was the farmers of Cabadbaran City in the fertile valley of Agusan del Norte who served as the inspiration in the establishment of the “Kalabasa” Pancit Canton Processing Facility in Alamada, Cotabato.
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It was in 2020 when, as Chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), I visited the City of Cabadbaran, the capital of Agusan del Norte, where Mayor Judy Chin Amante showed me how their farmers processed their excess squash production into a high value product, a very tasty and nutritious Pancit Canton.
The “Kalabasa” Pancit Canton was among the local products displayed in the Mayor’s office and I asked her staff to prepare a Pancit Canton dish.
The Squash Pancit Canton tasted a lot better than the commercial version which is made out of cereal flour.
Mayor Amante said the Pancit Canton-making project was supported by the Department of Science and Technology under then Sec. Fortunato dela Peña, a quiet but efficient government worker.
Although Cabadbaran farmers were only producing Squash Pancit Canton on weekends depending on orders from local consumers, the product was very popular.
In fact, when MinDA held the MinDA Tienda In Manila was held in December of the same year, the Cabadbaran Kalabasa Pancit Canton was the hottest item and the best seller.
Last year, when I met Alamada’s Kalabasa farmers who were crying over the losses they suffered when prices collapsed from a high of P20 per kilo to only P2, I remembered the Cabadbaran Kalabasa Pancit Canton Processing Facility.
This was the basis of my recommendation to Alamada Mayor Susing Sacdalan to ask DOST for the establishment of the same facility in his town.
Hopefully, before the end of the year, the people of Alamada and the rest of Cotabato will have a taste of the healthy noodle made out of the Kalabasa produced by the farmers of Alamada.
This is a perfect example of Value Adding by elevating our farmers from being just raw materials producers into processors and marketers of their own products.
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