STA. JOSEFA, Agusan del Sur - More than 70 farmers in Brgy. Sta. Isabel, Sta. Josefa, Agusan del Sur trained on herbal processing by the Agricultural Training Institute- Regional Training Center (ATI-RTC) 13. It was conducted with two batches from November 27 to December 1 under TIER II program.
Said training aimed at capacitating farmers in utilizing and processing backyard herbal plants along with its health benefits. It also aimed to alleviate poverty by helping farmers increase their farm production.

This is in cooperation with the barangay officials as well as the Barangay Agricultural Workers (BAWs) in Bry. Sta. Isabel.
According to Brgy. Captain Arthur Gumban, the herbal processing and other trainings as well as the support that were given by the ATI are very helpful to them. “I just hope that these opportunities will not turn into waste”, he said to the participants during the opening program.

Mr. Timoteo P. Orain from FDAI served as the resource speaker. He did the actual demonstration on the processing of ginger liniment oil, lagundi syrup and turmeric powder.
On the other hand, Ms. Estrella Robite, one of the participants expressed her profound gratitude to ATI for the knowledge she gained through the said training. “Daghan me’g nakat-unan pinaagi niini nga training labi na ang pagprocess sa turmeric powder, ginger liniment oil ug lagundi syrup.” (We now know how to process turmeric powder, ginger liniment oil and lagundi syrup. Thanks ATI for such opportunity for conducting this training in our barangay. May this endeavor continue in helping farmers like us”.
Moreover, participants received their certificates of training during the closing program. The 5-day training was facilitated by Ms. Ginalyn Arbutante as the project officer and Mr. Jeric Romano from ATI Caraga.

Gumban still encourages and urges participants to apply the knowledge they learned from the training. “This training must be given with value wherein participants can make this as one of their source of income by indulging into business through processing these herbal plants and market. It only needs diligence to make it into a realization”, he added.