Organic products from NCotabato a hit in fair in Germany

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines  --- Local officials said the recognition gained by two local products exhibited at the International Biofach Organic Fair last week in Nuremberg, Germany will boost the province's economy.

The Bios Dynamis organic black rice of the Don Bosco Foundation in Makilala town, and the Tree Life Coco Sugar from a local producer in Carmen municipality, were among hundreds of products from across the world that were exhibited in the fair.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, who helped facilitate the participation of the province to the fair, said the organic products from Makilala and Carmen town provided Central Mindanao a special spot in the global map of countries producing organic consumer goods.

The Don Bosco Foundation, according to Mendoza, is one of the leading producers of nutritious organic black rice in Central Mindanao.

The producer of the Tree Life Coco Sugar, Jerry Taray, received last year an international outstanding quality citation for his organic coco sap sugar from the Global Brand Award, and the Global Excellence Award.

The coco sugar, derived from boiled raw sap from coconut trees, is sweet, but has very low glycemic index, making it good for diabetics and health conscious people.

Mendoza said the two organic products from North Cotabato caught the attention of foreigners, among them entrepreneurs from different parts of Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Australia, who went to see the products exhibited in the Nuremberg fair.

The Bios Dynamis is now expecting orders of organic black rice from Germany, China, Macao, and from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Entrepreneurs from Brazil, Canada, the United States of America, Russia and Chile, on the other hand, have already signified intention of importing coco sugar from North Cotabato.

Mendoza, who led the North Cotabato delegation to the international fair, said they were delighted by the good reception the two products got during the fair.

Mendoza was accompanied to Germany by representatives of the Tree Life Coco Sugar and Bios Dynamis, provincial agriculturist Eliseo Mangliwan, provincial accountant Meriam Paniza, North Cotabato provincial board Members Dulia Sultan, and Loreto Cabaya, and Kristine Garcia, who is an executive assistant. - John Unson