DAVAO CITY – The Department of Agriculture (DA) is set to collaborate with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on a farm mechanization project that aims to improve post-harvest practices of Filipino farmers.
Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol said the cost of the project will be about P1 billion that will initially cover 10,000 hectares and come in 10 modules.
He said that each module will compose 1,000 hectares where his department will put in place tractors, transplanters, harvesters, drying facilities, storage facilities, and rice processing facilities.
The processing facilities will be run by the farmers’ associations, Piñol said.
The agriculture chief emphasized that they need to mechanize the farm practices to prevent post harvest losses due to poor farm equipment. He said that at least 23 percent of the harvest is lost.
“Before the end of the term of the President Rodrigo Duterte, he wants all farmers to be mechanized to prevent post harvest losses,” he said.
Piñol said the president supports the agency’s mechanization program if the Filipino farmers are to compete with their counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“If our farmers are to stand toe to toe with their ASEAN counterparts, we have to equip them with farm machineries because of that directive, I talked to JICA and they agreed to work with us,” he said.
“They will pay half of the cost of the equipment over the next 25 years, while the Philippine government will pay half. Beyond helping our farmers to produce more, we are helping them find a market,” he said.
To ensure continuity of the program, Piñol said he negotiated with top business executives like Jaime Augusto de Ayala of the Ayala Group, Ramon Ang of the San Miguel Corporation, and Manny Pangilinan of the Pangilinan Group of Companies. (ANTONIO COLINA IV)