CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – As part of the weeklong celebration of the High Value Crops (HVC) Week, preparations for chocolate making was demonstrated to the delegates of the Regional Food Security Summit, here in the city of Cagayan de Oro.

Siblings Med and Merimae Villamayor, operations and sales manager, respectively of EMV Food Products, shared their expertise on chocolate making and the importance of product value-adding.

A family-owned business based in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, EMV engages in diversified farming growing high value commodities such as cacao, mangosteen, lanzones, durian, among other crops.

Notably known for using their cacao produce as raw materials and process them into chocolates, they also extend help to other farmers by sourcing cacao beans from their locality and the towns of Lantapan and Damulog, and even market them in these areas.

Assisted by the agriculture department (DA) and other government agencies thru the provision of trainings and processing equipment, they are likewise known for transforming their production site into an accredited DA-Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) learning site.

The HVC week purposely recognizes the value and contribution of high value crops farmers in augmenting the country’s food adequacy level amid the pandemic; promotes the production, processing and consumption of high value crops; and further provides linkages to broaden market of their respective products. # (JLO)