Senator Cynthia Villar led the opening of the training course on rice farm mechanization and inbred and rice seeds production at the Villar SIPAG Farm School in Bacoor, Cavite.
Villar, chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, said training the farmers how to mechanize farming practices and to produce certified inbred seeds will address the need to lower the production cost of growing palay.
“Through this training program, we are helping farmers to be able to compete against imported rice.”
“Through this training program, we are preparing our farmers to switch to the modern way of farming and help them to be able to compete against imported rice which will start coming in as a result of the expiration of the Quantitative Restriction on Rice, prescribed by WTO,” the seasoned legislator said.
The training program was conducted for free in partnership with the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), the Philippine Center for Post-Harvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), and the Agricultural Training Institute.
The 9-day training was attended by 35 farmers from the Cordillera Autonomous Region, Ilocos, Cagayan, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Bicol regions. The First Phase was conducted from February 4 to 7 and the Second Phase will be conducted fon February 11 to 15.
After the program, participants are expected to acquire the knowledge that will help improve farm yield through mechanization and production of high quality inbred seeds.
“Participants are expected to help us transform more farmers into seed growers engaged in seed production and trade.”
“Once they graduate from the course, the participants are expected to also share their learnings in their respective communities and help us transform more farmers into seed growers engaged in seed production and trade,” the veteran lawmaker said.
Under the rice tariffication bill which is now submitted for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature, among the programs which will be funded by the P10 billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, is the development, propagation and promotion of inbred rice seeds to farmers as well as farm mechanization programs.
Along this line, the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (Villar SIPAG) partnered with PhilRice, PhilMech and ATI to conduct the Training Course on Rice Farm Mechanization and Inbred and Rice Seeds Production.
