NegOcc agriculture get boost at ‘Makina Saka’

THE agriculture sector of Negros Occidental province has gained boost at the three-day 5th Agricultural Machineries and Equipment Show dubbed “Makina Saka Expo” held in Iloilo City until Saturday, September 9.

Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino, who attended the event along with eight agricultural engineers from the province, said they were exposed to various farm technologies and equipment that can be used to improve agricultural productivity in Negros Occidental.

He said that farm mechanization is aimed at helping farmers achieve higher profitability through reduction of their production cost.

“By using appropriate machineries, we can also address the impact of depleting number of farm workers in the province,” Masculino said, adding that the expo has provided them potential linkages as to what technologies to use and where to source these.

This year’s “Makina Saka Expo” gathered about 1,000 farmers and stakeholders nationwide who are interested to see what modern farm machineries and equipment can do to improve their productivity.

It was attended by Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, Senator Cynthia Villar, and some local government officials in Western Visayas.

Piñol, in his Facebook post, said the equipment and machineries ranged from the simple hand-held and carabao-drawn corn planter to modern tractors and transplanters and locally assembled deep-well drillers.

“Farmers will see actual field demonstration of the machineries during the derby segment of the event to determine the best performing equipment,” Piñol said, adding that the expo is a yearly activity of the DA aimed at pushing farm mechanization.

The agency’s data showed the crops sector loses about 16 percent while the fisheries sector loses 40 percent of production because of post-harvest woes.

The country’s mechanization rate is a measly two percent compared to Japan’s 16 percent based on a horsepower per hectare ratio, it added.

Piñol said President Rodrigo Duterte has already directed them to speed up the modernization of the country’s food production industry.

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