The Department of Agriculture funded the Rice Processing Center (RPC) II worth P12.4 Million in Barangay Maparat, Municipality of Compostela, Compostela Valley Province.
Together with its attached agencies and the key officials of Compostela Valley, DA spearheaded the groundbreaking ceremony of the construction recently.
Agriculture Undersecretary Dante Delima who led the groundbreaking said this project will help the farmers increase their income by lowering the production losses.
“The construction of the center is expected to run for six months and will be operational during the next wet planting season”, Delima said.
DA’s Regional Director, Remelyn R. Recoter emphasized that the town of Compostela is considered as the rice granary of the Compostela Valley Province that contributes more than 30 percent in the provincial production and three percent in the whole Davao region.
“We are committed to continuously help you but we would also like to ask for your effort to take care of this center because not all farmers’ association is given an opportunity to own such facility. Let us help each other to make this processing complex beneficial”, she said.
The RPC is comprised with a multi-pass rice mill with a minimum output capacity of 1.2 tons per hour, two sets of batch re-circulating dryers with individual capacity of 18 tons per batch palay output equipped with biomass fed-furnace, a weighing scale (Bascula), one unit of portable moisture meter and one unit warehouse with a total area of 550 square meters.
This project of DA equipped with post harvest facilities and technologies will improve the efficiency of rice production, milling, drying and storage thereby reducing postharvest losses and enhancing rice quality, among others. (Aggie Media Service)