Camarines Sur map
MANILA, Philippines — At least 150 corn farmers, who are members of the Pag-iribang Nagkakaisang Magsasaka (PNM) organization in Pili, Camarines Sur, will benefit from the P1-million worth flatbed dryer from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
DAR, on Friday, said the equipment, which dries corn even during the rainy season, was given to the farmers who are also the department’s agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).
“More than 150 ARBs will benefit from the equipment. The farmers can now dry corn even during the rainy season. The farmers from nearby barangays may also use the flatbed dryers for their harvested corn,” DAR Camarines Sur Provincial Agrarian Reform program officer Renato Bequillo said in a statement.
It was distributed as part of the department’s major crop-based bloc farm productivity improvement project of climate resilient farm productivity support, he added.
Bequillo said some 450 hectares of the agricultural area in Pili are allotted for corn production.
“However, in many areas, local corn producers here continue to suffer big losses in income due to the high cost of agricultural inputs required for its cultivation, as well as lack of farm mechanization,” he lamented. — MJ Soriano, INQUIRER.net trainee