IBA, Zambales — Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. encouraged farmers in the province on Tuesday to make full use of farm machinery from the government to increase agricultural production and sustain the local farming industry.
“Mechanization is apparently the only way now to increase farming efficiency and address the gap in agricultural production and farmers’ income,” Ebdane said following the release here of farm machinery to various farmers’ organizations and some local government units.
“And it should be a game-changer, too, because we have seen that mechanization is attracting younger generations to farming, which is still the biggest industry in Zambales,” he pointed out.
“We have to start making full use of farm machinery if we wanted to increase productivity and continue to make farming profitable for everybody,” he added.
Ebdane led the distribution here on Nov. 5 of some P32-million worth of rice production machines and postharvest equipment that were secured through the efforts of Sen. Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, and distributed in coordination with the Department of Agriculture (DA) under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) Mechanization Program.
These include hand tractors, levee makers, PTO-driven disc plows, rice combine harvesters, precision rice seeders, cassava granulators, shallow tube wells, and composting facilities for biodegradable wastes, Ebdane said.
Among the beneficiaries are five farmers’ groups in Botolan town: Biangue Agro-Farm Association, which received a hand tractor; Botolan Muna Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative, levee maker; Maligha Irrigators Assn., four-wheel tractor, PTO-driven disc plow, and hand tractor; Batonlapoc Farmers Assn., composting facility; and Mamalyan nin San Miguel, composting facility.
Composting facilities also went to the Botolan LGU, President Ramon Magsaysay State University-Botolan, CENRO Specialist Co., and DA-RFO’s Central Luzon Integrated Agricultural Research Center.
In Candelaria, the Bunglo Zambales Irrigators Assn. got a four-wheel tractor, PTO-driven disc plow, and a hand tractor, while the Candelaria Corn Growers Assn. received a shallow tube well.
Palauig’s 1st Damayan Bagsit Irrigators Assn. was given a precision rice seeder, while Batungbacal Farms, Bulawen Integrated Farmers Assn., and Zennor Hydroponics Farm each got a composting facility.
In San Antonio, the Condicion Payong Farmers’ Assn. received a four-wheel tractor, and a PTO-driven disc plow; the Kapuriktan Nagtugawan Inabangan Farmers Assn., hand tractor; Namanaan Farmers Assn., levee maker; and the San Antonio LGU, a rice combine harvester.
Meanwhile, San Felipe’s Gurung Guru Farmers Assn. received a hauling truck, a cassava granulator, and a composting facility; the North East West South Farmers Assn. got two units of shallow tube well, while the town’s LGU got a four-wheel tractor and a PTO-driven disc plow.
In San Narciso, the Capaniquian Farmers Assn. got a levee maker; Negatil Rice and High Value Crops Farmers Assn., hand tractor and two units of shallow tube well; San Pascual Irrigators Assn., four-wheel tractor, PTO-driven disc plow, and hand tractor; and Simminublan Livestock Farmers Assn., hand tractor.
The Guinabon Multipurpose Farmers’ Cooperative in Santa Cruz town, meanwhile, received one levee maker, while the Tubo-tubo South Farmers Assn. got a composting facility.
Two units of shallow tube well, on the other hand, went to the Cabangan Farmers Assn., while the Paglana-Tuga Farmers Assn. in Masinloc received a composting facility for biodegradable wastes, and Delta Farm, BCV Farm and OPA Zambales all in Iba, each got one composting facility.
Zambales, which is the second largest province in Central Luzon, largely remains an agricultural area, with rice, mango, vegetables, root crops, corn, and sugar cane as the main seasonal crops.
Its palay production has been growing from more than 90,000 metric tons in 2003 to almost 160,000 metric tons in 2020. Santa Cruz, the northernmost town in the province, is the top rice producer with 23,559 metric tons (MT) in 2023, followed by San Narciso WITH 19,515 MT, and Palauig, 13,290 MT. (Malou Dungog)
