Pagadian City – Qualified farmer’s associations from the province of Zamboanga del Sur receive ₱ 52,490,000 worth of agricultural machineries on Monday through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) Mechanization Program of the Department of Agriculture and Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech).
During a ceremony held at the Subanen Hall, Provincial Government Complex at Barangay Dao, the following farm machineries and equipment were turned over to farmers and irrigators: 15 four-wheel drive tractors, 1 float-assistant tiller, 2 precision seeder, 4 walk-behind transplanter, 2 four-wheel riding-type rice transplanter, 1 rice reaper and 9 rice combine harvesters.
The said project benefited at least 10 irrigator’s and farmer’s cooperatives from the rice producing towns of Labangan, Ramon Magsaysay, Molave, Mahayag, Dumingag, Tambulig, Tukuran, Dimataling, Bayog and the city of Pagadian.
In a speech, DA-9 Regional Director Rad Donn Cedenio asked the recipient farmer’s cooperative to take care of the machineries. He said that his office will hand out monitoring forms to get feedback from farmers on the efficiency and performance of the equipment.
Cong. Divina Grace Yu thanked the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte for his solid support to the agriculture sector. The lawmaker said that application of modern farm technologies should be welcomed because it increases land and labor productivity which means increasing the economic returns to farmers.
Meanwhile, Gov. Victor J. Yu explained that rice mechanization is of great advantage for Zamboanga del Sur being a rice-producing province. He said that the arrival of these agri-facilities will really help improve the livelihood of rice farmers. He also reminded the farmer’s associations to maximize the usage of the machineries and preserve its efficiency through proper maintenance.
The agriculture department said beneficiaries of the farm machineries are duly registered Irrigators Association (IAs) or Farmer’s Association (FA’s) engaged in rice farming with SEC/CDA/DOLE registration with at least 50 hectares service area.
In addition, the recipients shall enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) under a counter-parting scheme and shall undergo training to operate and maintain the facility.
(Marlon Panares)
(Source: Zamboanga Del Sur – Provincial Press Bureau)