President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo showed support to the establishment of a vegetables processing center by awarding P10 million pesos as counterpart funding for the building and equipment of the Center.

    The Center will process different kinds of vegetable based products like veggie pasta or noodles, veggie meat, veggie soup base, etc. The project will be spearheaded by the Benguet State University and supported by the Local Government Unit (LGU) and the Department of Agriculture-CAR.

    The Center will be open to indigenous farmers and commercial producers where their products will serve as raw materials for processing. The processed vegetable products will be based on nutrition requirements of various target clients such as those with Vitamin A, Iron, and Protein Deficiencies. It will also employ majority of the unemployed graduates and women in the community.

    According to PGMA, the nutritious processed vegetable products will also be marketed and made affordable at the "Tindahan ni Gloria" nationwide. Dr. Violeta B. Salda, the lead researcher for the project, has developed various processed vegetable products from chayote, carrots, sweet potato, and squash among others. Processing of vegetables into palatable products such as preserves, pickles, and noodles will make seasonal vegetables available all year round.