SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique: A group of farmers in the municipality of Valderrama is innovating its products, introducing the latest vegetable noodles out of peperomia pellucida, locally known as “pancit-pancitan.”
“Pancit-pancitan is abundant in our barangay that we tried to produce noodles using them as our raw material,” said Fely Roquero, president of the Lublub Fresh Vegetable Noodle-Makers Association in Barangay Lublub, Valderrama, in an interview on Thursday (June 11).
The association with 20 members is a recipient of the Sustainable Livelihood Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The training they received from the government agency enabled them to continuously improve their products.
They have been producing noodles from squash, malunggay and blue ternate.
She said that the product sold fast when it was introduced during the Kadiwa ng Pangulo in Antique last month, because of its health benefits.
Pancit-pancitan is known to lower uric acid and it can relieve arthritis.
Roquero added that their other products are also known for their health benefits.
They do not include eggs in their ingredients, taking into consideration consumers who have allergies.
“Malunggay is rich in Vitamin A, while the blue ternate is an energy and brain booster,” she said.
These vegetable noodles are currently on display at the two-day Kadiwa Ng Pangulo as part of the 128th Independence Day celebration in Antique.
The Shared Service Facility (SSF) provided by the Department of Trade helped boost their production.
“We were able to avail of SSF equipment such as a noodle machine, chiller, mixer and oven,” Roquero said.
With bigger production, they can generate around P100,000 in monthly gross income from joining the Kadiwa Ng Pangulo and through their outlets in San Jose de Buenavista, Bugasong and Valderrama towns.
Before the SSF, they manually produced about 50 packs of 200-gram noodles twice a week.
“Our members at least earned P2,000 each as their share for helping in the production of the noodles,” she said.
To ensure sustainability, the Department of Agriculture provides the association with vegetable seeds, she added. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
