SRE Team Completes Liberia Train-the-Trainers Program

SRE Team (Dr. Ed Agustin of Aklan State University; Ferlina "Jojo" Galvan of the Philippine Coconut Authority-Aklan, Evangeline Salido of Grandma Enterprise, and SRE President Perla Manapol) completed a 10-day "training the trainers" (TOT) program on coconut value-adding, capped by "graduation" ceremonies on June 24 at the main training site in Ben Town, Marshall Township.

During the closing ceremonies attended by funding sponsors USAID and DAI's Liberia Community Infrastructure Program, together with Liberian NGO partner Center for Sustainable Energy Technology (CSET) and village officials, the "graduates" showed off their skills in de-husking coconuts to produce clean shells and usable husks; splitting the nuts to save the water (for vinegar); grating the coconut meat; extracting "milk" from the meat; cooking the "milk" to produce high-quality (and aromatic) cooking oil; producing virgin coconut oil from fresh coconut "milk;" producing high-efficiency charcoal in 24 hours from the shells; weaving doormats from coconut fiber twines (from the husks), and crafting jewelry items from the shells. Special features included cooking several dishes using the coconut "milk" and making "coco burgers" out of the residue of the grated meat.

The Team then heads to Sinoe and Grand Bassa Counties to monitor the newly-trained trainers in transferring their skills to hundreds of coconut farmers and their families.