Agriculture.ph Blog

Fida distributes abaca-striping machines

FIBER Industry Development Authority (Fida) regional office has started the distribution of abaca stripping machines to abaca growers’ cooperatives in Zamboanga Peninsula.

Fida said the distribution of the stripping machines is aimed to help uplift and increase the production of farmers who are into abaca farming in the region.

The Fida announced that six abaca growers’ cooperatives and associations in the region will receive stripping machines and the recipients are set to undergo training.

Part of the training is to teach the recipients on how to operate and maintain the stripping machines, according to Fida.

The first recipient to receive a stripping machine from Fida was the Goodyear Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Multipurpose Cooperative (Gabemco) in Kabasalan town, Zamboanga Sibugay province.

The second was the Bulawan Women’s Association in the town of Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur, and the third was the Mamawan Farmer’s Multipurpose Cooperative in Baliguian, Zamboanga del Norte.

The three associations received stripping machines from Fida last week.

The Latap Abaca Fiber Producer’s Association of Limpapa, Zamboanga City is set to receive Monday a stripping machine unit.

The Lapaz Abaca Grower’s Association, also of Zamboanga City, and Bagumbayan Abaca Farmers’ Association of Sergio Osmeña, Zamboanga del Norte are set to receive stripping machine each on Thursday.

The fiber extracted from abaca is used to produce variety of products including barong tagalong, ropes, and slippers, among others.

Written By Bong Garcia

Source: Sun Star

Jica, DAR turn over P10.4-M graders to 8 Davao del Norte farming towns

THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) recently turned over graders worth P10.4 million to eight municipalities in Davao del Norte as part of the support-services program under the Mindanao Settlement Sustainable Development Project (Minssad).

A six-year project focusing on the development of settlement areas in Mindanao, Minssad is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).

The eight municipalities include Kalilangan, Pangantucan, Maramag from the Bukidnon settlement area; Bunawan, Veruela from Agusan del Sur settlement area 2; Laak from Davao del Norte settlement area 2; Cateel from Cateel settlement area; and San Jose from Surigao del Norte resettlement area 2.

The project in various provinces in Mindanao that was launched in 2003 is now 88.62-percent complete.

The project addresses the needs of farmer-beneficiaries in the settlement areas to gain access to rural infrastructure projects such as farm-to-market roads, livelihood potable water and other basic social services.

“With the strengthened teamwork of the DAR, foreign partners and local government units [LGUs], we continue to strive towards our goal of providing support services to empower our farmers to improve their farm productivity to eventually rise up to progress,” Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman said.

Under the equipment support component of Minssad, municipal LGUs are provided with equipment to strengthen their operational capability in the operation and maintenance (O&M) of all completed rural infrastructure. The O&M equipment package is composed of dump trucks, graders, pay loaders, backhoes and road rollers.

Jica project formulation officer Akiro Goto expressed his high hopes that the equipment given will be used to sustain and help preserve all the infrastructure turned over to them.

“Jica helps in the realization of the vision to minimize poverty to the fullest in the depressed areas in Southern Philippines through our strong partnership with DAR. I put my confidence to all the recipients that the equipment will be utilized to benefit not only the farmers, but also the constituents of all municipalities,” Goto said.

Written by Jonathan L. Mayuga

Source: Business Mirror

The bahay kubo goes eco

If I were to own a house in the province, it would have to be a bahay kubo. Our family had one, perched on an undulant hill of the then bucolic Antipolo City. When I was much younger, my lola would bring me there to oversee the land which she had long ago purchased. I remember the bamboo ladder leaning against the woven door, the slats on the floor from where the cool wind slipped through, the walls and roof made from nipa palm (pawid). The banggerahan was situated near an open window so sunlight could stream in to dry and “disinfect” the dishes and glasses, with its look completed by the earthen water jug and the dipper (tabo) made of coconut shell.

Because the bahay kubo is the ubiquitous Filipino dwelling and still stands for bayanihan, resourcefulness and architectural ingenuity, many architects have been inspired by it in creating their own design. They appropriated some of its unique elements, modernized its look or totally redefined its charm by coming up with a larger, more opulent version. Soon-to-be National Artist Francisco Manosa always finds something new about the bahay kubo which he incorporates into his architectural breathtakers. In 2006, Archt. Michael Pena won the Metrobank Art and Design Excellence for coming up with a modern, sophisticated house inflected with vernacular design.

Another name who seeks to redefine the concept of the bahay kubo is Archt. James Jao. As an architect who has done many projects in the Visayas and Mindanao, he would always see scores of bahay kubo by the national road, intrigued by the basket weave of their walls and their architectural shape. By no means do the houses look sorry or dilapidated. In fact, they are evocative and well-built, rendering a sense of dignity to their inhabitants.

After coming up with the LuzViMinda eco-house, Archt. Jao decided to focus on the bahay kubo and infuse it with his thorough-going modernism (Le Corbusier’s International Style is an abiding influence). It would not be a Jao design, of course, if it not were sustainable: materials should confirm to strict environmental standards and the house should utilize less water and electricity. “It’s my attempt to come up with a typical vernacular architecture that is also carbon neutral,” he sums up.

The carbon-neutral part is of course an amplification of, and not an addition to, the traditional bahay kubo. Apart from the visible structure, the bahay kubo is unbelievably energy-saving: its various design components seek to maximize light and ventilation. And because most of the materials are sourced from the surrounding area, it also means that it has little or zero carbon footprint since there was no transportation and shipping involved.

A prototype of Archt. Jao’s vision of a contemporary, carbon-neutral bahay kubo, called the Eco Jao Bahay Kubo, will be unveiled tomorrow, during the opening of the Construction Show Manila at the SMX Mall of Asia Complex which will run until September 6. “It will be an opportunity for people to see the rich architectural potential of the bahay kubo and at the same be aware of current eco solutions available to homeowners who want to lessen their impact on the environment. It’s at once a homage to indigenous architecture and to sustainability,” he says.

Eco Jao Bahay Kubo is a 53 sq.m. single-level affair where areas of the house are delineated for a specific use except for the bedroom which is conveniently separated by plantation shutters—just like in a bahay kubo. The banggerahan is, of course, present while the windows are propped by a pole (tukod) made of stainless steel. The porch (balkonahe) is a nod to the outdoor area of the bahay kubo where people spend lazy afternoons gossiping, reading the newspaper, or taking a nap.

Behind this seemingly simple floor layout is a building envelope of sophisticated components. The walls have thermal insulation and the glass in the windows is double-gazed to absorb heat and to keep the cool air from escaping the house. The roof is made from PVC with carbon fiber in between the sheets while the flooring is made from porcelain. The house promotes well being in that the cement used is asbestos-free while the coat of paint that covers it is non-toxic.

The house, however, becomes truly low-impact not only because of the materials used and their sustainability (the wood, for example, is sourced from a tree farm) but also because of it is envisioned to generate its own electricity. Solar panels capture light, transforming it to energy that will run simple household appliances including lighting fixtures, electric fan, water-heater, cellphone charger, a small ref and TV. The water closet and the shower, on the other hand, dispense only the appropriate amount of water.

Archt. Jao, who recently attended the “Eco-Build Conference” in London and the Green Build Expo and Conference” in New York, adds that house, among its other features, is not site-specific. “It can be on top of the hill or by the sea,” he says. “It can be a cabana in resort or at the guesthouse at the back of your house. It will be truly an attraction because people are generally curious of how it is to live in a bahay kubo.”

Eco Jao Bahay Kubo doesn’t come cheap. The cost to build a prototype ran to almost one million pesos. If it were to be privately constructed, the amount of course will still have to include the cost of land and the architect’s fee. But Archt. Jao says that a prototype always comes as invariably expensive and that, if the demand rises, the cost will go down, because “then the economics of scale comes in.” He also says that even a unit in low-cost housing will still amount to the same price, without even having a single eco-solution.

Currently, Archt. Jao is doing other projects that are carbon neutral and ecologically aware, such as a townhouse, a hospital, a resort, even a funeral home. For him, the opportunity to create any built environment always entails the chance to make it resonate to the global clamor for sustainability. It seems that Archt. Jao has fully embraced the role of “a missionary of green architecture throughout the archipelago.”

Written by Carlomar A. Daoana

Source: Manila Bulletin

Local inventor’s poultry equipment can trigger backyard businesses

An incubator for custom hatching of poultry eggs and another more sophisticated one for those of ostriches, or cages for chicken brooding, growing and laying at every possible scale.

These are just examples of the many poultry gadgets and equipment of Filipino inventor Jose Abellar, owner and president of Abellar Equipment Philippines.

“There are a number of doable businesses in poultry that even small-scale entrepreneurs can do, be it in the rural or urban areas, or in a big farm setting or simply at the backyard,” said Abellar.

One such business is backyard poultry raising through the use of a steel cage module called “Brooder, Grower, Broiler Cage Assembly” or simply BGB cage, which is made of sturdy welded wire.

“Growing the birds in BGB cages is more beneficial than growing them in a colony system. The metal cage is very hygienic. The birds have a better feed conversion because they are confined in a small area where movement is limited. There are usually no runts in each batch because of enough feeding space and ventilation,” Abellar explained.

Two feet wide, 1.5 feet tall and 16 feet long, the BGB cage, with its steel support, stands two feet from the ground and has four compartments, each with an area of two feet by four feet for a combined 100-bird capacity.

Thus, brooding can be done right in the cage. Then, when the chicks are about three or four weeks old, 25 can be placed in each of the four compartments, where they will be raised for about 35 to 40 days.

The divisions prevent the overcrowding of chicken at any one part of the cage and make it convenient to handle them during medication and other procedures. Feeders on both sides of the cage are very convenient to fill and refill.

Using the same cage module, an entrepreneur can also grow pullets for egg production. After brooding, the birds will be raised in this cage until they are 16 weeks old and ready for transfer to the layer house.

The module can also be expanded to raise capacity since the cages can be joined together forming a straight line. At 100 birds per module, it will take only 100 modules to expand that capacity to 10,000. For this purpose, Abellar has a rail-based feed dispensing system that can distribute feeds in just 10 minutes.

Moreover, the BGB cage can be used to house ready-to-lay pullets of 16 weeks old. Day-old chicks usually cost R30 each, and after raising them for 16 weeks, they are usually sold at only R160 each. Thus, many egg producers buy ready-to-lay pullets since these are supposed to have been fully vaccinated and will start generating income in just a few weeks.

Another possible business is custom hatching using Abellar’s incubator, which caters mostly to fowl breeders. This incubator, with a capacity of 360 eggs, can hatch different batches of eggs of various quantities in a continuing operation.

Abellar’s another line of incubators is for ostrich eggs. “This incubator features a digital thermostat, the first of its kind introduced in the Philippines,” Abellar said. “It has a fully automated egg turner that operates according to the time programmed by the owner, depending on his requirements. This machine also includes such other features as electronic thermostat, heater pilot lights, built-in water pan, external water refill receptacle, magnetic door locks, panoramic glass viewing doors, fiberglass housing and low wattage.”

Abellar’s products will be showcased with those of various firms from around the world during the staging of Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink 2009 at the World Trade Center Metro Manila on October 8-10. “This international event, the country’s best agri trade fair, not only helped me meet clients, but also offered me insights on how I could further contribute to the industry,” Abellar stressed.

Supported by some 20 national trade associations with ABS-CBN as media partner, Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink constitute the country’s biggest and most prestigious annual international trade show on agribusiness, food and aquaculture.

Email frld@pldtdsl.net for more information from event organizer Foundation for Resource Linkage and Development.

Source: www.mb.com.ph

Philippines: Tramline technology to boost vegetable farming in Maragusan

Vegetable farming in Maragusan, Compostela Valley Province will be given a boost as a tramline system will soon be established in their area.

Considered to be the first in Mindanao, the tramline system will be used to transport agricultural products particularly vegetables from mountainous areas of Maragusan to nearby roads and markets.

Tramline technology in farming is an alternative means of hauling farmers’ produce using cables and pulleys to transport products from inaccessible farms to the nearest road network.

Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Arthur Yap in his visit over the weekend has turned-over P5.1 million worth of checks to Compostela Valley Governor Arturo Uy and Maragusan Mayor Cesar Colina.

“Tramlines are considered as more practical and speedy modes of transporting vegetables, especially in areas that could not be reached by road networks. It is designed to help farmers who have a hard time transporting their produce to the nearest roads,” Yap said, adding:

“The transport system is cost-effective, considering the huge financial requirement in building roads in the area.”

DA regional director Roger Chio said his office through the High Value Commercial Crops (HVCC) program had long seen the potentials of Maragusan to be a major vegetable producing area in the region.

“Maragusan’s cool climate is suited for production of high value vegetables. The only limitation for vegetable expansion is that most of the areas are in the highlands making it difficult for farmers to transport their produce,” Chio said.

Chio said through the technology being promoted by the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE), an attached bureau under DA, the HVCC program in the region collaborated with the Compostela Valley provincial government and Maragusan local government to establish three agricultural tramlines in the said town.

Speaking on behalf of the farmer beneficiaries Maragusan Mayor Cesar Colina said the establishment of tramline system will significantly improve postharvest handling of vegetable production in their town.

“About 30 to 40 percent of the market value of our upland farmers’ products goes to hauling alone. Improper handling of vegetables also affects the quality of their products which results to cheaper buying price,” Colina said.

“Now that the DA-HVCC has provided us the funds to put up at least three tramline systems, we can now improve handling of farmers’ products which in turn would increase their productivity and income,” he added.

Source: pia.gov.ph

‘Agri-bots’ to raise opportunities in RP farming

AS industrialization becomes more evident and opportunistic in a once agriculturally reliable nation like the Philippines, its natural wealth is either neglected or left uncultivated for lack of resources.

To help the important economic sector, Genetic Computer Institute of the Philippines has set “Robotics in Agriculture” as the theme for its 2nd National Robotics Competition on October 24.

“Agricultural robotics aims to enhance the learning of both elementary and high-school students on different processes of agriculture while instilling in them the significance of technological means for its vast improvement,” Pinky Legaspi, vice president for marketing and sales of Genetic Computer Institute (GCI), told the BusinessMirror in an interview.

GCI is an international chain of information-technology training schools brought here by Singaporean experts in 1999. It offers schools robotics as an elective. The Genetic group is regarded as one of the premier computer training specialists in the Asia-Pacific region with a presence in 37 countries worldwide.

The tournament has two categories. Novice is for ages 9 to 13, while intermediate is open to teens aged 14 to 18. Each team can have 15 members to construct and design two robots.

The contest has three parts. First is the design concept, where participants have to conduct an investigation in a rural community. After concerns are identified, three members from a team are tasked to present robotic-solution tools that will help or aid area leaders in solving their farming challenges. Recommended solutions have to be feasible and should create impact on environmental, financial, social and cultural aspects of the chosen location. This segment will constitute 30 percent of the total score.

Subsequent to the presentation is a written exam. All team members have to answer 20-item questions related to robotics, agriculture, science and math. The team’s test-result average will be 20 percent of its total score.

The final phase is the GAME category. Using the robots they made, six members from a team will group themselves into two to play in separate playing fields. Two robots have to collaborate in doing missions of harvesting colored objects referred to as grains, stalks and seeds without bumping each other. The robots must be programmed to bring the collected objects in a barn or market via bridge (road area). During planting season, robots have to move again autonomously to set the irrigation system and activate a biogas system to light up the farm. This three-minute mission accounts for 50 percent of the total score.

Members are encouraged to cheer for their teams in the game proper for additional points.

The maximum allowable robot dimension and weight for the play-offs is 18 cm x 18 cm x 15 cm, and 1 kg, respectively. Damaged robots during the game may be recovered and fixed without interference with other robots-in motion.

Any kind of robot and programming languages are permissible; however, remote control in any form is prohibited. Coaches are not allowed to assist the students in the three sections of the competition.

From the overall champion, three students will be chosen to compete in international robotics, which will soon be announced by Pinoy Robot Games on their web site www.pinoyrobotgames.org.

Last year the 10th International Robot Olympiad 2008 was held at the International Islamic University of Malaysia.

Written by Louise M. Francisco

Source: Business Mirror

Seaweed: Underwater goldmine

THE Philippines, with a total coastline of 36,289 kilometers, has marine resources that provide food to millions of Filipinos and livelihood to a great number of rural families. One of these is seaweeds, those marine plants that grow abundantly in shallow reef flats and in lagoons with a water depth of less than two meters at high tide.

“Over the years, the economic contribution of seaweed resources to the country’s economy has been recognized and interest in their development has been growing particularly with the increasing demand in the foreign trade for these resources as raw materials for many industries,” said the primer on the status of seaweed industry in the Philippines published by the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD).

As an industry, seaweed farming or the gathering of natural stocks is a viable venture. “Our seaweed production is still the biggest aquaculture producer of the country providing livelihood to more than 100,000 poor coastal families,” reports Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III, the PCAMRD executive director. “Average income per family is P15,000 per 60 days per one-fourth hectare.”

Currently, there are more than 150,000 hectares of seaweed farms throughout the country. Most of them are found in coastal barangays in Western Mindanao, Central and Eastern Visayas, and Southern Tagalog. These regions account for 60 percent of the country’s total production.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), commercial production of seaweeds through farming is at present limited to a few countries in East Asia making it a high value crop with a high demand in the world market. The Philippines is noted for the culture of seaweeds along with Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan.

The Philippines is home to various kinds of seaweeds of which 390 species have been identified as having economic value as food, animal feeds, fertilizers, diet supplement, medicines, and raw materials for industrial products.

Among the 60 varieties found in the Philippines which are reportedly edible are gulamang dagat, gamet, pocpoclo, culot, lato, guso, barls-barls, bulaklak bato, and balbalolang. Some of these varieties can be processed into jams, jellies, candies, pickles, baby?s food, and gulaman bars.

In Tiwi, Albay, some residents have discovered a pansit (noodles) made from seaweed, which has health benefits. The seaweed noodle is rich in calcium and magnesium and can be cooked into pansit canton, pansit luglug, spaghetti and carbonara.

So far, four species — Halimada, Hypnea, Sargassum, and Asparagopsis — have been used as feed or fodder for livestock. Species of Cladophora, Enteromorpha, Chaetomorpha, and Gracilaria are used to supplement or substitute for fishfood for cultured herbivorous fish.

The high potassium content of brown seaweeds like Sargassum, Turbinaria, Hormophysa, and Hydroclathrus make them ideal substitutes for costly fertilizer.

In Kidapawan City, Jose Riga has developed an all-purpose seaweed-based organic fertilizer and soil conditioner in stabilized pellets. The fertilizer is made from brown seaweed, cattle manure, stabilizing compounds and an organic binder fortified with soluble compounds of a number of nutrients.

Seaweeds have also some medicinal values. They are used to treat or prevent goiter, glandular troubles, stomach disorders, intestinal and bladder difficulties, unusually profuse menstrual flow, high-blood pressure, and high plasma-cholesterol level.

The Gracilaria species are used locally as pain relievers and ointments. It has been asserted that seaweeds may have curative properties for tuberculosis, arthritis, colds and influenza (or flu), worm infestations and even tumors.

Currently, a number of research studies have been conducted to investigate these claims and other effects of seaweed on human health.

Some studies have found that seaweed can promote weight loss. For this reason, seaweed extract is used in some diet pills. Other seaweed pills work similar to gastric banding, they will expand in the stomach to make the body feel more full.

Commercially, seaweeds are valued for their colloids or gluey substance, particularly agar, carrageenan, and alginate. Both agar and carrageenan are extracted from red seaweeds, while alginate is extracted from brown seaweeds.

Agar is used in making jellied desserts, as stabilizer in pie fillings, piping gels, icings, cookies, cream shells, and as thickening and gelling agent in poultry, fish and meat canning. In the medical and pharmaceutical industries, agar serves as a laxative, suspending agent for barium sulfate in radiology, ingredient for slow-release capsules and in suppositories and surgical lubricants, and as a disintegrating agent in tablets. It is also used as impression materials to make accurate casts in prosthetic dentistry, criminology and tool manufacturing.

Carrageenan, on the other hand, is used in making ointments, as a stabilizing agent in frozen dairy products, as emulsifying agent in water-insoluble drugs and herbicides, and as texturing agent in toothpaste and powder.

Alginates enjoy many of the same uses as carrageenan, but are also used in production of industrial products such as paper coatings, adhesives, dyes, gels, explosives and in processes such as paper sizing, textile printing, hydro-mulching and drilling. In the biomedicine and pharmaceutical industries, alginates are used in wound dressings, and production of dental moulds and have a host of other applications.

The Philippines is one of the pioneers in seaweed farming. Cultures of Porphyra, Eucheuma, and Caulerpa in the Philippine marine farms have been recorded as early as the 1960s. Through the initiative of Dr. Max Doty, a marine botanist at the University of Hawaii, and his local counterparts, the first technology for culture of Eucheuma was introduced to industry in 1973.

Commercial seaweed farmers first succeeded in cultivating Eucheuma in the reef areas of Mindoro, Aklan, Cuyo, Zamboanga, and Tawi-Tawi. Since then, seaweed production has gone overboard.

But like any agribusiness ventures, the seaweed industry has its own shares of problems. One of these is the erratic fluctuation in production caused by inefficient marketing and unstable buying and pricing policy of traders. The Philippines also stands to lose a significant share of the world market as buyers complain of poor quality seaweed produced in the country.

Production of seaweed is also beset with problems. The PCAMRD brochure explains: Productivity of farmed seaweeds has been declining due to predator grazing, the so-called ice-ice phenomenon, aging effect and negative growth rates as well as crop losses due to typhoons. Lack of quality seedlings or planting materials also hampers the expansion of farm sites.

Another reason for lower seaweed production in the country is due to climate change. According to Benson U. Dakay, president of the Seaweed Industry of the Philippines, the ideal temperature for seaweed is below 26 degrees Celsius but in recent years the temperature at the seaweed farms has gone above 26 degrees Celsius. As such, seaweed production has declined by as much as 50 percent in some areas in the country.

But despite all these problems, Dr. Guerrero is still hopeful and even recommends seaweed farming in the country. “It requires low inputs with high returns on investment,” he points out. “It is labor intensive and offers good opportunities for the employment of the otherwise labor force in the coastal areas.”

Written By Henrylito D. Tacio

Source: Sun Star

World’s 1st plant oil-fueled stove now commercialized

BAYBAY CITY, Leyte, Philippines – The world’s first plant oil-fueled stove is now being commercialized on Leyte Island and adjoining places.

Named Protos, the cooking device was developed by a German firm, BSH Bosch and Siemens Hausgerate GmbH, in collaboration with research partners, among them the Visayas State University (VSU) in this seaside city situated 120 kilometers southwest of Leyte’s capital city of Tacloban.

Protos has been envisioned to help solve energy problems in cooking; eliminate health problems associated with open fires, especially for women and children; reduce deforestation for firewood or charcoal; promote effective cooking systems that use renewable fuels; and protect biodiversity.

Its cheap fuel sources are used vegetable oil from restaurants and diverse plant oils such as those of coconut, jatropha, peanut, cotton seeds, and others.

Protos is not yet a final product and the observations and suggestions of those using it are being addressed.

These include the noise it creates during cooking, cost of some of the stove’s parts available locally, and refinement of the used vegetable oil as fuel.

VSU said Protos is turning out to be the most environment-friendly stove because it uses plant oil, which is renewable, as fuel; it reduces dependency on fossil fuel imports; and it can reduce deforestation by substituting wood as fuel for cooking.

Health-wise, it has no hazardous emission and it protects the family’s health owing to its very low greenhouse gases emission.

Carbon dioxide emissions of Protos is more than 10 times lower than those of liquefied petroleum gas and kerosene, and almost 70 times lower than those of wood and charcoal.

A family of four or five consumes only two liters per week or about 100 liters per year of used vegetable oil to operate the stove.

“Local production of plant oil and stove parts can also create employment opportunities in the rural areas,” VSU added. Finally, Protos cooks faster owing to its high power output.

Written by Rudy A. Fernandez

Source: Philippine Star

Manila, Seoul formalize agreement to construct 4 rice-processing centers

The Philippines and South Korea have formally sealed a commitment to construct four rice-processing centers (RPC) expected to reduce postharvest losses in four provinces.

The Exchange of Notes on the project was signed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The signing was witnessed by President Arroyo and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.

The exchange of notes on the construction of the processing centers was among the highlights of President Arroyo’s official visit to Korea on May 30 and 31.

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) provided a P649-million grant for the construction of the P785-million RPC, with the Philippine government providing a counterpart fund of P136 million.

Of the P136 million, Agriculture Undersecretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said P104 million will come from the Department of Agriculture and P32 million from local government units where the processing centers will be built.

The sites include Santa Barbara Pangasinan; Pototan, Iloilo; Pilar, Bohol; and Matanao, Davao del Sur.

The establishment of the four centers in the Philippines follows the successful implementation of the first RPC in Baler, Aurora in 2007 which was built through a $2.3-million grant from Koica.

Written by Jennifer A. Ng

Source: Business Mirror

Agricultural Shredder/Chopper For Sale (Brandnew)

Briggs and Stratton 6.5hp Engine(Brandnew)

3 months warranty on the machine and 1 year warranty for the gas engine

Price: P35,000 pesos

Contact details: TJ Gonzales -> Sun Cellphone number: 0922-8384651 or Smart Cellphone number: 0921-7429385 Landline number:  044-7660858

Location: Baliuag, Bulacan