A 3-day program on Organic Herbs production, Utilization, and Processing for 25 Out of School Youth participants from Pagatpat and Tablon Cagayan de Oro City, was held at Umanika Eco-cultural Farm on June 1-3, 2022. This is a joint partnership between Greenminds Inc., an ATI Extension Service Provider, and the Agricultural Training Institute Regional Training Center 10 to provide the needed knowledge and skills to the participants on how to propagate and utilize herbs.

The need to address the increasing demand for organic products in the market, which increases by 20% yearly around the world, should be addressed. Here in the Philippines, more and more people have come to appreciate the value of consuming safe and healthy food. By immersing the participants in this training, they aim not only to provide them with the needed skills to soon become producers of organic products but to make sure that they’ll also be able to use their learnings and share them with the other members of the community.

As part of the training, the participants had a hands-on demonstration on how to make and mix potting media for the herbs, execute herb propagation, classify medicinal and culinary herbs, and make herb tea, infused water, juice, salad, pesto, and package and label food products. They also had a farm-tour activity where they visited Mushroom City located at Kalasungay, Malaybalay City, and Candiisan Diversified Farm at Malaybalay City, ATI 10 Learning Sites for Agriculture, where they learned about the humble beginnings of the farms and learned about the farms’ best practices.

The training was manned by Mr. Reynaldo Gil “Datu Makadingding” G. Lomarda, President of Greenminds Inc., together with Ms. Rose Mary B. Lomarda, Project Development Officer; Ms. Aplegen A. Sultan, Processing Staff; Ms. Lonalyn A. Sulatan, Training Officer, and Ms. Cristine A. Galupo, Agriculturist II of ATI RTC X. #