Saturday, September 06, 2008 School-on-air program benefits corn farmers
KORONADAL CITY -- Thanks to the radio, hundreds of farmers, many unschooled due to poverty, have become certified graduates.
Some 535 farmers across Central Mindanao last week earned certificates by listening to the four-month school-on-air program on corn mechanization spearheaded by the regional office of the Department of Agriculture.
Beaming with pride, the farmers received their diplomas in the neighboring town of Tantangan, South Cotabato for corn mechanization, a program supported by the Bureau of Post-Harvest Research and Extension (BPHRE) and the government units of South and North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City.
Running since May, the radio program delivered right to the homes of farmers the knowledge and new technologies on corn mechanization that seek to improve their productivity, said Abusama M Alid, regional agriculture director.
"The School-on-the-Air [program] is one way of reaching out to farmers in the remotest communities. By listening to our radio programs, farmers don't need to go to school and doesn't have to pay for tuition fees," he said.
Rosendo S. Rapusas, BPHRE director, urged farmers to implement what they learned from the school-in-air program as the technologies imparted would help boost productivity.
"Adapting mechanization technology is of great of help to corn farmers. It expedites farm operation and increases corn production," he said.
Alid said the radio program tackled the benefits and advantages of utilizing complete farm machineries like farm tractors with corn planter, fertilizer applicator, harvester, sheller, and dryer.
The top 20 graduates were also given medals, transistor radios, corn seeds, among others, Alid said.
According to a report from the regional Agriculture department, the Philippines has the lowest mechanization rates among Asean countries.
"Manual planting was proven to be inefficient and often results to high cost of production. On the other hand, machine planting is more efficient and results to better yield and lower cost," it added.
Usually, problems arise during peak harvest season.
In the Philippines, average post production losses from harvesting, piling, shelling, cleaning, drying and storage for corn in 1994-1995 survey reached 12.7 percent, the report said.
The survey was conducted in three sites, namely: Bukidnon, South Cotabato and Isabela.
Central Mindanao was the second largest corn-producing region in the Philippines last year, next to Cagayan Valley in Luzon, data from the regional Agriculture office showed.
Otherwise called the Soccsksargen region, its estimated corn output last year reached 1,123 million metric tons. BSS
