Republic of the Philippines
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Philippine Center for Postharvest
Development and Mechanization
CLSU Compound, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija

NEWS STORIES

Farmer-Scientists, leaders step up rice production and mechanization
by Jessica Marie Laturnas (August 3, 2018)
Thirty-one Magsasakang Syentista (Farmer-Scientists) graduated in a training course on the production of high-quality inbred rice seeds and farm mechanization at San Jose del Monte, Bulacan last July 20-31, 2018.

Senator Cynthia A. Villar graced the ceremony and encouraged the graduates to step up.

She said, “You (farmers) have to be competitive. You have to produce more per hectare courtesy of PhilRice and you have to mechanize to reduce your labor cost courtesy of PHilMech. The hope of our nation is PHilMech and PhilRice.”

Senator Villar further emphasized, “It is important for the farmers to profit and be skilled because the food security of our country depends on them.”

The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) and Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) conducted the said training to improve the farmers’ rice production capacity and efficiency through the support of Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) and Villar Social Institute for Poverty and Governance (Villar SIPAG).

PhilRice kick-started the training with a discussion about the PalayCheck system, the seed exchange program, and the maintenance of the seed quality.

Successively, PHilMech provided lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on activities on land and seedling preparation, harvesting and drying to equip the participants with the knowledge and skills on the operation and maintenance of selected agricultural machinery.

The participants were evaluated based on knowledge gained, skills acquired and their feedback of the participants to the over-all conduct of the training course such as the content, resource persons, venue, food, accommodations and others.

The participants are expected to be monitored, coached and mentored for six months to one year after the training to further assess what have been undertaken to the action plan they prepared during the training.