Republic of the Philippines
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Philippine Center for Postharvest
Development and Mechanization
CLSU Compound, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija
(044) 4560-213, od@philmech.gov.ph

NEWS STORIES

2 FCA recipients of information dissemination services from PHilMech
by Vanessa D. Pallar (November 30, 2023)
A series of information dissemination programs were conducted for Botolan Muna Farmers Multi-purpose Cooperative (BMFMC) and Villaverde Development Cooperative (VILDECO) last November 24 and 28, 2023, at Botolan, Zambales, and Villaverde, Nueva Vizcaya.

The cooperatives were held as the two highest numbers of graduates for Season 2 of the program, 116 graduates for both BMFMC and VILDECO. With this, the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) organized a graduation and awarding ceremony to acknowledge the cooperatives' achievement and active participation.

PHilMech awarded transistor radios as special tokens to each cooperative and the top three Radyo Eskwela Season 2 graduates.

General Manager Rafael Dequiña of BMFMC said, “Ang Botolan Farmers Coop ay lubos na nagpapasalamat sa PHilMech ‘pagkat ang [kooperatiba] ay napiling recipient ng programa (RCEF Mechanization Program)… Sapagkat ang kanilang (PHilMech) layunin [ay] mapagaan ang ating pagsasaka sa pamamagitan ng mga makabagong makinarya (The Botolan Farmers’ Cooperative is very grateful because it was one of the selected recipients of the RCEF Mechanization Program… PHilMech’s objective is innovate farming practices using agricultural machinery).”

Moreover, General Manager Ligaya Diozon of VILDECO expressed, “Isu nga dagijay naadal tayo ti Radyo Eskwela, agtultuloy kuma nga [aramatin] tayo (farmer graduates) idjay inaldaw-aldaw nga panagtalon tapno mabaliwan metten iti sistema tayo (farmer graduates) (Hoping that all the information we learned from Radyo Eskwela Program will be applied to our daily farming activities, so that we are changing our old farming practices).

Talakayan sessions were also held to educate farmers on various components under the RCEF Mechanization Program. For BMFMC, a discussion on the Rice Processing System (RPS) was held. It include the program's objectives, beneficiaries, RPS types, documentary and technical requirements; for VILDECO, the roles and responsibilities of the farmers' cooperatives and associations regarding the machineries they receive under the RCEF Mechanization Program was discussed instead.

Moreover, an Open Forum followed after the discussions to address the queries and concerns of farmers.

The farmer graduates received information, education, and communication materials, hats, bags, and shirts from the agency.