LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte (PIA) — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is set to inaugurate a P71 million-worth of modern rice mill in Piddig, Ilocos Norte, on July 18, 2024.
This rice mill will be turned over to the Piddig-Basi Multipurpose Cooperative.
As the lead agency for the Rice Competitiveness and Enhancement Fund, the rice processing system from the Department of Agriculture (DA)-Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) is seen to enhance the farmers’ agricultural productivity and efficiency.
“This multi-purpose stage rice mill is a big help because the cooperative buys the products or outputs of the farmers to assist them. There’s also a patronage refund or dividend that comes in, which is a big help from the cooperative,” said Felix Cid, president of the said cooperative.
He added, “We buy the palay, harvest it, and then sell it. Because we know that a farmer’s work is to sell their product, they don’t have to tire themselves out harvesting.”
The multi-stage rice mill has a capacity of two to three tons per hour, with a pre-cleaner, de-stoner, huller, mist polisher, length grader, color sorter, blending tank, automatic parking machine for milled rice, rice hull bin, dust collection system, air-conditioned control room, and a transformer.
Overall, this system is worth P56.5 million.
Moreover, two recirculating dryers worth P8.1 million have a 12-ton per batch drying capacity, are made of stainless steel, and are equipped with two heating systems, a generator set, tools, and other accessories.
“The Piddig-Basi Multipurpose Cooperative, established in 2015 through the merger of two cooperative agencies, previously had a rice processing facility (RPC) built in 2016. They were granted a second Rice Processing Center (RPC II) to further improve rice quality, initially requested by National Irrigation Administration Administrator Eddie Guillen,” added Cid.
The project will directly benefit the 1,100 farmer-members of the Piddig-Basi Multipurpose Cooperative as one of the qualified and eligible beneficiaries of the program.
They manage a total area of 1,400 hectares of rice fields.
Additionally, the cooperative will receive agricultural machinery amounting to P6.4 million, such as a four-wheel tractor, PTO-driven disc plow, levee marker, precision seeder, and rice combine harvester, further improving their overall livelihoods and economic sustainability. (AMB/MJTAB/PIA Ilocos Norte)
