Monday, January 26, 2015

Rice mill project to benefit 500 farmers in Sto. Tomas



Davao del Norte, January 26, 2015 – Some 500 farmers in the municipality of Sto. Tomas, this province, benefitted from the Multi-Pass Rice Mill project with mechanical dryer of the Saint Michael Multi-purpose Cooperative (SAMIMUPCO).

The P7.6-million project located in Barangay Kinamayan was made possible through the Community Fund for Agricultural Development (CFAD) component of the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP).

The cooperative put up a counterpart funding of P4.6 million for the project, which also serves farmers in the barangays of Esperanza, Talomo and other neighboring villages.

Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario led the inauguration of the project, assisted by Mayor Benigno Andamon and Miguela Ebquila, Deputy Regional Program Coordinator of the MRDP, along with other local officials.

The governor lauded the cooperative for raising enough counterpart to complete the project.

He encouraged other cooperatives to follow the example of SAMIMUPCO, which capitalized on available government funding to enhance the profitability of their business ventures.

SAMIMUPCO Chair Rene Bongabong revealed that aside from increasing the income of the cooperative by over 10 percent, the project also allowed them to extend milling services to other rice traders in the town.

It has also benefitted the both the traders and consumers by reducing the transportation cost of milled rice.

The project has a capacity of 20 bags per hour at 50 kilos per bag, with the mechanical dryer also churning a capacity of 6 tons per batch using biomass fuel as its heating unit.

Del Rosario further asked the local government units to actively involve and take advantage of huge funding now offered by the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP), which is an upscale version of the MRDP.

The new program is a 6-year national government platform for an inclusive, value-chain oriented, and climate resilient agriculture and fisheries sector.

Like the MRDP, the PRDP is also jointly funded by the World Bank, the national government and the local government units. (Noel Baguio-PIO DN)

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