DOST gives P1.2-M aid to Zambo Norte university

THE Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in Zamboanga Peninsula has released P1.2 million funding assistance Monday, August 15, 2022, to Jose Rizal Memorial State University (JRMSU)-Tampilisan Campus for the project “Pre-Commercialization of I-tek Coconut Dehusker”, an innovation of JRMSU in Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte.

Nuhman Aljani, chief of the Provincial Science and Technology Office-Zamboanga del Norte (PSTO-ZDN), handed over the P1.2 million in check to Dr. Merlyn Luza, administrator of JRMSU-Tampilisan, in a simple ceremony Monday at the PSTO-ZDN.

“The project is funded through the agency’s (DOST) local Grant-in-Aid (GIA) assistance,” Aljani said in a phone interview.

Aljani said that the grant will finance the fabrication of six units of I-tek Coconut Dehusker to further asses its performance, usability, and socio-economic impact on its intended end-users.

He said that the dehuskers will also be subjected to test at Agricultural Machinery Testing and Evaluation Center (AMTEC) for adoption to the Philippine Agricultural Engineering Standard.

He said the testing aims to verify the machine specifications, performance quality of manufacturers, and the sustainability of the machines to local farming conditions.

Upon commercialization, the technology is expected to benefit some 2.6 million coconut farmers in the country, which currently relies in labor-intensive manual dehusking process. (SunStar Zamboanga)