By John Rey Saavedra/PNA
CEBU CITY — The Department of Agriculture (DA) in Central Visayas continues to strengthen the mechanization program for corn farmers in the province of Cebu.
Engineer Daryl Dumayac, technical staff of the DA-7’s Regional Agricultural Engineering Group (RAEG), on Tuesday said around 30 farmers from different farmer-associations in the province attended last week a skills training on the proper operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of compact corn mill.
He said the training in Danao City, Cebu will equip corn farmers with knowledge and skills on fixing the machine in case of malfunction.
Dumayac said the 30 farmers who underwent training were designated as operators of their compact corn mill.
The farmers were taught to familiarize themselves with the parts and functions of the machine.
“To be familiar with the machine, we asked them to identify minor problems encountered during the use of the machine, asked them to dismantle and assemble it back, so they will know how to fix it,” Dumayac said in a message posted on social media.
He said that troubleshooting capacitates the beneficiaries to fully use the machine granted to them by the government through the agriculture department.
Mechanization of corn farmer associations is one of DA’s project interventions to empower them and further enhance their farming skills and exposure to post-harvest technology.
Romano Martel, a farmer operator and participant in the training from Barangay Lawaan, Danao City, shared his association’s success story due to the mechanization program of DA-7.
“Our compact corn mill can serve not only our barangay. We can mill corn from eight neighboring barangays of Danao,” Martel said.
Martel said his group can mill at least 300 to 400 kilos of corn per day.
Marcos Sumbilon, a corn farmer from Barangay Cambanog, Dumanjug, Cebu expressed his gratitude to DA-7 for the continued assistance that includes the mechanization training, which has enhanced their capability to maintain the compact mill assigned to them.
Designed by the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), compact corn mills are distributed to farmer groups in the province to ensure good quality produce at par with the commercial corn mills.
