Muscovado replaces 'patupat' as Santiago City's OTOP
November 25, 2009 11:32 am
SANTIAGO CITY, Nov. 25 – This premiere city in Cagayan Valley has changed its one-town, one-product (OTOP) commodity from patupat, which is a cooked native glutinous rice wrapped in palm or banana leaves, to muscovado sugar.
City Mayor Amelita Navarro said the change of the product for promotion of the city was due to the high demand in the country and abroad of muscovado sugar, which is an unrefined brown sugar with a strong molasses aroma.
Muscovado has been an ideal complement for black coffee, other drinks and baked products and it is a major export product of the country, she said.
Navarro reasoned that the traditional sweet patupat has not been providing a lucrative livelihood for villagers and its demand has been seasonal and limited to the city and nearby towns.
She said the city government has bought 260,000 hybrid sugar-cane rootstocks which were planted at the 8.5-hectare cane nursery in Bannawag Norte in this city.
The rootstocks would be dispersed soonest to farmers, who will be trained by the Philippine Sugar Authority for scientific farming practices.
She said the OTOP project would complement the proposed P3.5-million muscovado sugar mill, which has an initial P500,000 grant from the Department of Science and Technology. (PNA) LDV/SCD/BV/mba
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