WINNERS at the 10th National Agriculture and Fisheries Technology Forum and Product Exhibition will use cash prizes for more research and development (R&D) to make their products commercially viable, the Bureau of Agriculture Research (BAR) said on Friday.
BAR Director Nicomedes Eleazar said the Most Innovative Product winners were Cow Pea of the Department of Agriculture (DA) Mimaropa, third place; Gourmix of the Southern Luzon State University, second place; and, Pigeon Pea of the Bataan Peninsula State University, first place.
The winners were awarded P500,000, P750,000 and P1 million worth of research grant, respectively, by the BAR.
Eleazar said the grants would be used by the proponents to enhance their products for local and international markets.
Gourmix, for example, is eyeing to expand from just a vegetable-based product used as relief food during times of calamities into a commercially sold healthy-meal product.
“Gourmix is also targeting poorly malnourished children, supporting the various feeding program of the DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development] and the DepED [Department of Education] in their needs for highly nutritious food/meals,” said Rose Mary Aquino, senior agriculturist of the DA-Cagayan Valley Integrated Agricultural Research Center.
Developed by the DA Regional Field Office (RFO) 2, Gourmix was derived from the combination of “gour” from the word “gourmet” and “mix.”
The product is a mixture of nutritious and locally produced cereals, grains and grits, like milled rice, white corn grits, Adlai grits, malunggay powder, soybean-texturized vegetable protein, ground mungbeans and yellow ginger turmeric.
“The researchers chose this kind of combination mainly because all the ingredients [raw materials] are locally, abundantly, freshly and continuously being produced by the farmers in Cagayan Valley,” Aquino said.
Gourmix is priced at P20 per pack of 250 grams. One pack is good for five to six persons.
In order for the product to be commercially ready, the DA RFO 2 said it will use the prize to focus on R&D initiatives, particularly on the improvement of packaging and labeling, trademark application, and product promotion and marketing.
The latter was also the aim of the DA Palawan Agricultural Experiment Station-Research Outreach Station (Paes-ROS) based in Puerto Princesa for its project titled “Technology Commercialization of Cashew-based Products/ Agri-based Enterprise Development Project.”
Aside from product development, the DA Paes- ROS said it will use the grant for future R&D plans that will concentrate on good manufacturing practice and Food and Drug Administration/halal registration by improving their manufacturing facility.
“Cashew prunes is not yet very popular compared with typical plum prunes, but with more promotional assistance and further product improvement in terms of packaging and labeling, we can put cashew prunes at par with our typical prunes,” said Librada Fuertes, head of the DA Paes-ROS R&D Section.
Another winner, the Department of Food Science of the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA), also plans to use the grant for extensive promotion of its pigeonpea product line called Verdant Fields.
Melanie Abalayan, researcher for Pigeonpea Product Development of CBSUA, said they aim to widen the information dissemination among farmers, stakeholders and other beneficiaries on the cultivation and processing technologies of pigeonpea and its products.
Product development and patent application will also be prioritized by the researchers, as well as the conduct of institutional activities, like nutritional feeding to undernourished school children in Camarines Sur.
At present, CBSUA has produced at least 20 products, including cookies, polvoron, milk, pretzel, coffee, puto cake, pan de sal, cake, sweetened and instant pigeonpea, tea, wine, hopia, pancit noodles, tempeh (fermented pigeon pea cake), porridge and kropeck.
Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan), locally known as kadyos, is a perennial crop that can be used as food or forage.
PNA