Training on Banana Processing in Oeteta Village

On Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 12 noon, a training on banana processing was held at the farmer group’s meeting place in Oeteta village, Sulamu district, Kupang regency. Although the weather was not friendly due to rain, it did not dampen the spirit of the mothers in the Mardika Immanuel farmer group of Oeteta village to hold the food processing training scheduled for each month.

This is their first training since the formation of mothers’s group in the Mardika Immanuel farmer group. For the first training, they chose bananas because the raw materials were available. Banana is quite abundant in Oeteta village, so they have no trouble with the raw material. During harvest season, they fed the unsold bananas to pigs.

The training was on the processing of raw and ripe bananas. Raw banana was processed into chips with several flavors of salty, sweet, salty-sweet, and salty-sweet-spicy. Ripe banana was processed into dried banana using the sunlight. The training did not just teach theory, but also invited the women to practice making banana chips and dried bananas.

Fifteen members of the mothers’s group participated in the training, with the Institut Leimena’s staff as the trainer. We hope that this training can add value to existing banana sales and increase the earnings of the mothers in the Oeteta village. An important lesson is that hardwork will bring results. Wishing you all success and keep up the spirit, moms!