The Apo Macote Agrarian Reform Cooperative (AMARC) is a reactivated Samahang Nayon composed formerly of 32 members. Now, the coop is composed of 116 farmers, 50 percent of whom are beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
As an agri-based cooperative, AMARC is a recipient of several government programs such as mechanical dryers. Two units of recirculating dryers were separately acquired during the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos and President Joseph Ejercito Estrada. These dryers use kerosene-fed furnaces with a capacity of 6 and 4.5 tons , respectively. However, these were only used for a short span of time.
Mr. Vicente Leono, chairman of the cooperative said: “Nagamit namin for more than a year lang dahil mahal na ang kerosene at mahirap maghanap ng technician para magtrouble shoot†(We used it for more than a year because the price of kerosene is rising and it’s difficult to find technicians to do the trouble shooting).
On June 18, 2010, these two dryers were again back into service through the retrofitting of a biomass furnace developed by PHilMech.
Leono added that they saved around 50 percent on the operation cost of the dryer using the biomass furnace compared to kerosene-fed furnaces. “Malaki ang agwat sa gastos, mas advantage ang biomass dahil mura lang ang ricehull, yung iba nga labor na lang ang gastos dahil libre din ang ipa.†(There is big difference on the expenses, it is more advantageous to use biomass because ricehull is very cheap, and there were also times that they only expend on the labor-cost because sometimes the ricehull is free).
“May mga farmers na kahit maganda ang sikat ng araw ayaw na nila sa solar drying dahil gusto nila na makatrabaho na agad sila sa kanilang mga bukid. Sa mechanical dryer, iwan na lang nila sa coop at bahala na ang coop sa pagdry, may tiwala naman sila sa management.†(There are also farmers who opt not to dry on the solar pavement even on sunny days because they want to till their farms immediately. Through the mechanical dryers, they can leave their grains to the coop and the coop will be the one to dry it, they have trust on the management), he added.
Since the start of the PHilMech project ‘Promotion of Biomass Furnace Retrofitted to Mechanical Dryers’, the Technology Management and Training Division of PHilMech had already recorded a total of 222 biomass furnaces adopted nationwide.
The cooperative has been cited as one of the 2012 outstanding project cooperators of PHilMech.
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