We will support a local farmer's association process their excess fruits into wines, vinegar, jams and jellies for increase in income and well-being. Fruits that are in season often deteriorate quickly due to tropical climate and the price go down tremendously in a short time. There is a need to process these in order to increase value, increase shelf-life and improve the livelihoods of local farmers.
Tropical fruits are in surplus during peak production season. With the tropical climate the shelf-life is low and they are discarded to the detriment of the incomes of the farmers. Some of the fruits are only good for 2-3 days and after that the value go down tremendously. Clearly there is a need to process them into wine, vinegar, jam, jellies and candies in order to increase their value.
Processing fruits into high-valued, longer shelf-life products need ingredients and equipment. For example for wine and vinegar-making needed are sugar, yeast, wine bottles and large containers. A farmer's group need an initial supply of these equipment and ingredient in order to launch this project. Knowledge in product processing can easily be had from local practitioners and government agencies.
Tremendous improvement in the living conditions of local farmers suffering from low income, low price of highly-perishable products and lack of initial inputs can be solved by this project. The long-term impact is improvement in the overall living conditions of poor farmers.
