By Cyrus A. Natividad

Eleazar Carmen shares his product development success in a video clip of the Department of Agriculture.

In a video clip of the Department of Agriculture’s episode of Byaheng Agribiz, Eleazar Carmen, CPU Packaging Engineering graduate Batch 2017 expounds on “how the opportunity came up from a bad situation”. Carmen was recognized by the BPI and the Department of Agriculture for his Ripples Ice Cream, an upshot of his desire to help the cooperatives and farmers with livelihood. He is an adviser of the Agusipan 4H Club in Badiangan, Iloilo.

Carmen started his product development with Carabao Dairy at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. His product ‘Ripples’ Ice Cream was recognized as one of the Social Enterprises of the BPI Sinag Spark Bootcamp 1: Entrepreneurial Process and Social Enterprise Development. With it and the cooperatives working hand in hand, the carabao dairy which was not really popular in the market was developed by Carmen. He produced the delicious ice cream made from carabao milk.

“We are now in the process of bringing the product to other regions”, the young Centralian entrepreneur said. “We need to get out of the box and change our mindset about agricultural; to continue on with our product development. This will contribute to the development and progress of the industry. There is really money in agriculture. This is one way to support local farmers and promote livelihood for our countrymen”, Carmen explained.

Carmen is proud about the current available tastes of his well-packaged Ripples Ice Cream –Mango, Ube and Pandan.