A PHP71-million worth of agricultural machinery and post-harvest facilities awarded to a farmers cooperative in Piddig town, Ilocos Norte province are seen to help lower prices of rice and cost for farmers while ensuring adequate supply.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is expected to attend the turn-over ceremony of the state-of-the-art multi-stage rice mill from the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization, the lead agency for the Rice Competitiveness and Enhancement Fund mechanization program, to the Piddig Basi Multi-purpose Cooperative on Thursday in Barangay Ab-abut, Piddig.
Felix Cid, president of the farmer’s cooperative, said farmers, including those who are not members of the cooperative, are grateful for the grant, which is part of the government’s farm modernization program.
The multi-stage rice mill has a capacity of 2-3 tons per hour and features a pre-cleaner, de-stoner, huller, mist polisher, length grader, color sorter, blending tank, automatic packing machine for milled rice, rice hull bin, dust collection system, air-conditioned control room, and a transformer.
It will be complemented with recirculating dryers, each with a 12-ton per batch drying capacity and equipped with two heating systems, a generator set, tools, and other accessories.
Even during heavy rains, farmers here no longer need to worry to dry their palay or unhusked rice since they can easily access the modern rice mill meant to improve their productivity and efficiency.
“We have dreamed of this modern facility and through hard work and dedication, we made it happen under the RCEF mechanization program,” Cid said, citing that it took them years to wait for the project to finally come to fruition.
With the assistance of the local government of Piddig, the farmers learned to consolidate, which paved the way for the flow of support from various government agencies.
Aside from the rice processing system, the cooperative with 1,100 members and consolidated rice fields of 1,400 hectares also looks forward to receiving one four-wheel tractor, a power takeoff disc plow, levee maker, precision seeder, and rice combine harvester worth PHP6.4 million from the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday. (Leilanie Adriano)
(Source: Philippine News Agency)