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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Friday, September 8, 2017
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ILOILO City – Latest farming technology and mechanization will make farmers more productive and competitive.
Sen. Cynthia Villar underscored this at the opening of the three-day Makina Expo 2017 of the Department of Agriculture (DA) at the Iloilo Convention Center (ICC) in Mandurriao district yesterday.
“This is very important. We encourage the mechanization of farming. This lowers the cost of production. Farmers can thus produce products at much competitive prices,” explained Villar, chairperson of the Senate committee on agriculture.
Vietnam produces rice cheaper by P6 than rice produced in the Philippines, she revealed.
“This is due to the cost of our labor, it is higher than Vietnam’s, and that’s because farming in Vietnam is mechanized,” said Villar.
Formerly dubbed Makina Saka, the Expo aims to enhance public awareness on the effectiveness of using modern agricultural machineries, and update farmers on the latest farm mechanization technologies in the Philippines and in other countries.
Villar acknowledged that farmers are apprehensive of mechanization because this could displace them from work.
“Hindi naman kailangang mawalan ng trabaho. Maka-create naman tayo ng ibang gagawin nila like sino ang magpapaandar ng makina, mag-mi-maintain ng makina?” she explained.
The Makina Expo 2017 has around 3,000 participants from different regions. Aside from the ICC, the other activity venue is the Western Visayas Integrated Agricultural Research Center in Barangay Hamungaya, Jaro district.
DA secretary Emmanuel Piñol, and a representative of Sweden’s ambassador to the Philippines Harald Fries graced the opening program yesterday./PN
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