To strengthen the 2023 National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) innovation project granted to Cebu Normal University, the Research Institute of Tropical Biology and Pharmacological Biotechnology (RITBPB) conducts a training-workshop to select faculty members at the RITBPB center this morning.

Led by the RITBPB Director Dr. Jay Picardal, the training-workshop gathers faculty members to produce different strategies through educational and creative materials that would capacitate the community in Boljoon, Argao, Balamban, and other Cebu towns, particularly on knowledge enhancement, best practices in harvesting, processing, and manufacturing, among others.

Among the collection that the faculty members are expected to produce in the training also include dances, songs, literary pieces, play, and training materials that would also promote the cinnamon project not just in the Municipality of Boljoon but also beyond Cebu.

Locally known as “mana”, the cinnamon project secures funding by NEDA amounting to 4.9 million pesos for the establishment of cinnamon facilities in the Municipality of Alegria, where produce from the municipalities of Boljoon and Alegria will be processed.

The project entitled, “From Farm to Market: Co-creating the Cinnamon Industry in Cebu, Philippines,” aims to revive the cinnamon industry by conducting further studies for economic development and by engaging with different stakeholders for the project.

With 579 cinnamon species in the world, 22 are found in the Philippines and six of which are found in Cebu.

Padayon, CNU!