OCCIDENTAL MINDORO SALT FARMER S/WORKERS TRAINED ALONG BASIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Despite the inclement weather brought about by typhoon Marce and the announcement of Signal No. 2, TESDA-Occ. Mindoro Provincial Office in partnership with the Tamaraw Salt Producers Cooperative, Inc. (TAMACO) jointly implement a two-day training on Basic Entrepreneurship for some fifteen (15) salt farmers/workers on November 24-25, 2016 at the Sikatuna Beach Hotel, San Jose, Occ. Mindoro. The said cooperative, headed by its President, Mr. Jombet Magsino has sponsored the training program while TESDA Provincial Office facilitated the provision of Trainer in the person of Ms. Riza S. Reyteran, former Administrator of I-Net Asia Technological School, Inc, and a graduate of TESDA-Star Coke Manila-based Training on Entrepreneurship.
The training was conceived out of the need to address the plight of the salt farmers during wet season wherein salt production is impossible. Part of the program for the said workers is the provision of seed/start-up capital by the cooperative based on their submitted livelihood/project proposals they themselves conceptualized during their training on Entrepreneurship program.
Salt farming in Occidental Mindoro plays a major role on its economy, wherein the province supplies roughly 40 percent of the table salts in the country (The Winning Edge/Occ. Mindoro Wilkipedia), mostly coming from the municipalities of San Jose and Magsaysay. Considering the significance and contribution on the province’s economy, TESDA-PO explored also other areas of partnership i.e trainings on the pipeline for 2017 which include: 1. preparation of training modules for the repair and maintenance of specialized machines used in salt-farming b2) training on the operation and maintenance of the specialized machines for salt workers/famers and other interested workers. There is an apparent need for a training on the maintenance of said highly specialized machines, salt washing and drying machines type which were acquired by the cooperative through foreign grant.
Likewise, the training participants were also informed of other programs and services of TESDA particularly the Training for Work Scholarship and the Barangay Kabuhayan Para sa Kasanayan and Kapayaan (BKKK) Program, and signified also their support through info-dissemination in their respective barangays.