NEW CORELLA, Davao del Norte—Rice production in this town usually exceeds the capacity of existing rice mills. The situation has become worst for farmers in the remote areas, as they have to pay to bring their produce to the rice-milling facility.
“Although selling rice instead of palay is more profitable, most farmers in our association usually opted to sell fresh palay rather than wait and spend for hauling,” said Cerilo Buagas, president of New Cortez, Matin-ao Sustainable Farmers Association (Necomasfa).
Aside from inadequate milling facilities, lack of other postharvest facilities such as a thresher also affected the quality of their produce.
“There are times that our rice would turn bahay or yellowish as we cannot harvest them on time. This lowers the price of our palay by up to 20 percent,” said Gerardo Mulet, a member of Necomasfa.
To address the need for adequate postharvest facilities, Necomasfa sought the assistance of the Department of Agriculture (DA) regional office for their association to acquire postharvest equipment and install a milling facility. The DA endorsed their proposal to the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP) and access funds worth P500,000.
“From the amount we accessed, we established a fully accessorized rice mill—a baby cono type—with an input capacity of 900 to 1,000 kilograms per hour. The building and the area was our association’s counterpart,” Buagas said.
He said other postharvest facilities were acquired, such as one single drum thresher and one unit transmission to power their existing trailer truck that delivers their milled rice to the market.
Necomasfa is now servicing 250 hectares of rice fields, both for member and nonmembers.
“Those who availed themselves of our thresher during harvest season pays one sack of palay for every 13 sacks collected. For milling, we are charging P2 per kilo of milled rice,” said Rosemarie Cales, the association’s treasurer. She said the amount collected is used for maintenance of their facilities. Out of the money collected they were able to fix their potable-water system and now charge P15 per month for member households, while nonmember households are charged P25 each.
“We now have three sources of income: the thresher, the rice mill and the potable-water system. To date, our association grosses at least P500,000 a year,” Cales said.
Mulet and his fellow farmers prefer to avail themselves of the thresher from Necomasfa, as the association hauls their produce from the field to the rice mill.
“MRDP’s assistance helped us improve our income as we no longer spend for hauling cost. We can now harvest our yield on time so the quality of our produce is preserved, enabling us to demand better price,” Mulet said. DA Regional Director Remeleyn Recoter said postharvest facilities are among the priority projects of their office to help small farmers improve their product and income.
“Adequate postharvest facilities will not only reduce losses and improve income quality of produce but will also help farmers establish their own farm-level value-added processing business,” Recoter said.
This holds true for the Necomasfa, whose members not just sell fresh palay but also market quality rice through their rice-mill facility, she added.
Meanwhile, Davao del Norte Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario said the MRDP had been very instrumental in making Davao del Norte a breeding place of opportunities.
“The MRDP has changed the course of activities in rural communities. It has strengthened and inspired people’s organizations in upgrading their livelihood, while the rural infrastructure has eased their burden in transporting their produce and saved on hauling cost,” he said.
Del Rosario, who is also a member of the MRDP advisory board, said the program is a very vital project that paved the way for a higher and wider program: the Philippine Rural Development Program.
The PRDP is a six-year project under the DA, which will serve as a national platform for market-oriented and climate-resilient agri-fishery sector. Patterned after the MRDP, which ends this year, the PRDP will introduce several innovations such as a value-chain approach and expanded vulnerability assessment.