36 rice-producing towns in Bohol, NegOr now fully mechanized
PNA
CEBU CITY – The full mechanization of planting and harvesting in 22 rice-producing towns in Bohol and 14 in Negros Oriental has boosted rice production in Central Visayas, an official said on Tuesday.
Rogen Jan Flores, focal person of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF)-Mechanization Program of the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), said that fully mechanizing farming activities in those areas is the key result of the six-year program launched in 2019 and would end this year.
“The Youth for Mechanization program was introduced to show to the young generation that rice farming is no longer that grueling as compared before where farmers need to manually work from cultivation to harvest,” Flores said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Nearly PHP1 billion worth of technology and machinery has been provided to 243 farmers, farmer associations, and farmer cooperatives in the two provinces.
The machinery include combine harvesters, reapers, threshers, and mobile rice mills that have helped farmers do the cultivation with so much ease, and increase production as well as their income.
Flores said the goal of the RCEF program is to reduce the cost of farming, which is being addressed in the six-year period.
He said that if the program would be extended for another six years starting in 2025, and be named RCEF Mechanization Program 2.0, many more towns and cities in Cebu, Siquijor, Bohol, and Negros Oriental will benefit.
