Survey of village level post harvest processing activities in the municipalities of Mendez, Silang and Tagaytay City, Cavite / by Maricris T. Panganiban.

Thesis (BS Agriculture Engineering) Cavite State University

Includes bibliographical references.

College of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Natural Resources (CAFENR)

PANGANIBAN MARICRIS T., "Survey of Village Level Postharvest Processing Activities in the Municipalities of Mendez, Silang and Tagaytay City, Cavite". An undergraduate Thesis, Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering. April 2008. Cavite State University. Adviser: Dr. Marilyn M. Escobar
This study was conducted to survey the village level postharvest processing activities in the municipalities of Mendez, Silang and Tagaytay City, Cavite. Specifically, it aimed to observe the actual processing operations of the micro enterprise engaged in three major crops/commodities of the selected municipalities, outline the series of processing operation for a specific commodity, describe the specification of the processing equipment and facility; document the problems encountered by the owners of the micro enterprise; and determine the relationship between age, gender, civil status, educational attainment and the annual gross income and expenses of the farmer/processor respondent. Survey questionnaire was prepared, and was used to collect information regarding post harvest processing activities by micro enterprise in the said municipalities. The lists of respondents were gathered from each municipality's municipal agricultural office active files. Slovin's formula and stratified random sampling with proportional allocation were used to determine the sample respondents who were engaged in the micro enterprise using the three major crops in the three municipalities. Major crops were selected based on total production per year, number of farmers served, and the total land area planted with the crop. The major crops of Mendez, Silang, and Tagaytay City were coffee, pineapple and banana.
Coffee is the major commodity in the three selected municipalities with a total number of coffee respondents of 360. The coffee farmer processors practiced two postharvest processing activities, namely: a) harvesting, cleaning/ sorting, sun drying, packaging and storing, and transportation/ distribution/ marketing; and b) harvestino cleaning/ sorting, sun drying, mechanical drying, pulping, packaging and storing, and transportation/ distribution/ marketing. Among the facilities and equipment used by the respondents were mats/woven materials, roads, and concrete pavements. Coffee mills like "Esqueta" and "Jewels" were the brands used by the processors. Mechanical dryers were also used to maintain the desired moisture content. Other equipment that were used are coffee blower, separator, weighing scale and moisture tester. Coffee products were sold as dried berries and green beans. Multiple cropping was practiced in the three municipalities, which implies that almost all farmers engaged in pineapple enterprise has also banana as their crop. Pineapple, as the second major crop found in Tagaytay and Silang has a total of 314 respondents. Workers used ordinary and jute sacks, as their packaging materials. Freshly harvested pineapples were sorted according to size and weight and were sold directly to the middleman. Others sold the pineapple directly to their "pondahan" or to the market. Banana has 346 respondents from the three municipalities. Bolos were used as the major equipment and the processing activities were done manually. As for transporting the banana, heavy-duty passenger jeepneys were used. "Latundan", "lacatan", "saba" and "senorita" banana varieties were harvested and cleaned using bolos and were sold directly to the market. No secondary processing was observed after harvest of the banana in the three municipalities. Problems commonly encountered by the respondents were on financing for the maintenance of machines, severe damage on fan belts, screens, and huller blades; lazines the laborers for the coffee processors; pineapple fruits being eaten by rats, diseased pineapple which they call “pasik” for pineapple processors; breakage of bolos during harvest, banana plants affected by storms, and banana fruits eaten by birds.

Multiple regression analysis showed that age and educational attainment of the coffee processors have a significant relationship with income and expenses. Whereas, Chi-square analysis showed that gender, age and educational attainment a significant relationship to coffee products produced by the processors.

Submitted to the University Library 10-08-2008 T-3864