A RICE mill in the province of Zamboanga Sibugay is expected to increase its milling output after the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) provided the firm P2.5 million innovation fund through the agency’s Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP).
Jennifer Pidor, Zamboanga Sibugay Provincial Science and Technology head, said in a statement that the beneficiary of the innovation fund is the Rendon Rice Mill of Balangao, Diplahan town.
Pidor said the firm will use the financial assistance to procure one complete set of baby cono type rice mill, fully equipped with one unit huller head and combined with booster aspirator, tray-type paddy separator, de-stoner, SB-30 horizontal double polisher and rice milling accessories.
Pidor said with the upgrading of its facilities, the rice mill is expected to increase the milling output from 15 bags to 20 bags of 50 kilograms per hour, with a high recovery rate of 60 to 65 percent.
She said as soon as commercial-scale operations are reached, they are confident that the produce of the rice mill will be at par with, if not better than, the milled rice available in the market from both local and imported rice traders.
Frankie Rendon, the owner of the rice mill, said it is “a dream turned into reality” as the DOST-Zamboanga Peninsula granted his proposal to upgrade his facility from a single pass to a multiple pass rice mill.
Rendon said with the upgrade, he can now compete and be at par in terms of the quality of other rice traders in the province.
SETUP assists micro, small, and medium enterprises and identified industries to improve productivity through different technological interventions such as the acquisition of innovative and cost-effective facilities; product development; process improvement; workforce capacity empowerment; and consultancy services, among others. (SunStar Zamboanga)