MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Saturday that it is eyeing mechanization to reduce the prices of rice in the country.
According to DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa, mechanization will increase production levels and reduce production costs.
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“So, ngayon ang tutok pa rin namin ngayon ay sa palayan na mapataas ang lebel ng produksiyon at mapababa iyong cost to produce, again sa pamamagitan ng mechanization at mapababa rin iyong post-harvest losses kaya iyon ang tinututukan din ni Secretary Tiu Laurel,” De Mesa said.
(Our focus right now is to increase the level of production and reduce production costs, again through mechanization and to reduce post-harvest losses, which is being studied by Secretary [Francisco] Tiu-Laurel [Jr.])
De Mesa added that there are 15 to 20 percent of post-harvest losses caused by crushed grains in the drying and milling process, which in turn causes wastage.
“Ang percentage is about 15 to 20 percent depende kung saang area at saang level. Ang karamihan niyan ay doon sa drying at saka sa milling. Iyong halimbawa sa milling natin, sa kiskisan – malaki na sa atin iyong 65 percent na milling recovery pero marami pa rin sa kiskisan nasa 50 to 55 percent ang milling recovery,” he added.
(The percentage is about 15 to 20 percent depending on the area and the level. The majority is in the drying and milling process. For example, in milling, 65 percent is already a big figure in milling recovery, but many of our mills still have 50 to 55 percent milling recovery.)
The DA also plans to have around one to two kinds of rice varieties per region to increase efficiency, de Mesa stated.
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“So, ang focus ngayon again ni Secretary Tiu Laurel ay ma-ensure na hindi tataas sa tatlo kada rehiyon iyong variety ng palay na maitanim. Ang bet namin isa, dalawa lang eh kaya very efficient iyong kanilang milling system and eventually iyong kanilang milling recovery napakataas,” he said.
(The focus of Secretary Tiu Laurel is to ensure that the rice varieties planted per region will not go above three. What we are looking at is around one to two, so that their milling system would be very efficient and eventually, their milling recovery would be high.)