Philippine Coconut Farmers to Undergo Training on Natural Vinegar Making

As the government prepares to purge “fake” vinegar from the consumer market, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) will begin a nationwide training of farmers and women’s groups on the production of natural vinegar, using agricultural products to fill the expected supply gap, the Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported on May 22. 

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol, in his FB post, said the DA and the PCA will launch on May 28 the “Natural Vinegar Production Program” - with a one-day orientation-workshop - at the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) in Quezon City. Regional orientation-workshops will be conducted after the launching in Quezon City. Invited to attend the first orientation-workshop on natural vinegar production are experts in the field, as well as farmers and entrepreneurs who are already producing vinegar, among them is Green Life Coco Products based in Laguna, which is producing 20-metric tons of organic coco sap vinegar and 60-metric tons of coco water vinegar monthly. 

The orientation-workshop will include the status of the Philippine coconut industry and the government’s thrust to develop other high-value products from coconut; potentials of natural vinegar for household and industrial uses; processing and production of natural vinegar using coconut sap and coconut water.  It will also introduce the “Acetator” equipment developed by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), which could process coconut water into vinegar in 16 hours; the DA-PCA program for the establishment of village-level processing facilities for household and industrial vinegar; and the DA-ACPC (Agricultural Credit Policy Council) Loaning Program for Agricultural Production to include production of household and industrial vinegar. 

Vinegar-making is a traditional source of income for many coconut farmers in the country but it has reportedly been ignored and neglected by the government in the past. With the consumers now getting more health-conscious and opting for healthy food, Piñol said the production of natural and organic vinegar has a huge market potential provided that the production process, including the packaging, is improved with government assistance.