The Department of Agriculture (DA) will hold this year’s Makina Expo in Iloilo City.
According to Regional Executive Director Remelyn Recoter, more than 3,000 participants from the different regions in the country are expected to attend the three-day mechanization confab. The Expo will be held simultaneously in Iloilo Convention Center (ICC) and Western Visayas Integrated Agricultural Research Center (WESVIARC), Hamungaya, Jaro, Sep. 7 to 9.
Senator Cynthia A. Villar, DA Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, and Sweden Ambassador to the Philippines Harald Fries will grace the opening program in ICC.
Formerly dubbed as Makina Saka, the Expo aims to enhance awareness on the effectiveness of using modern agricultural machineries and update the farmers on the latest mechanization technologies in the Philippines and in other countries.
Some of the topics to be taken up includes water management in irrigated rice cultivation and climate change; irrigation technologies; machinery’s insurance program of the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation; Agricultural Credit Policy Council financing program; and Agricultural and Fishers Financing Program or Micro-Finance Program of the Land Bank of the Philippines.
Technical experts from the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) will present the developments in local riding type rice transplanter, multi-purpose seeder, rice hull gasifier engine pump system, multi-rows onion seeder, cassava digger, and grain probe moisture meter.
They will also introduce the use of cacao wastes for industrial and commercial application, drying technologies for fermented cacao beans, bio-control agents in managing crown-rot disease of banana, among others.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources will also tackle various technologies on aquaculture, capture fisheries, and postharvest activities.
Meanwhile, field demo of tractor, transplanter, rice combine harvester, and solar and pressurized irrigation system, and proper repair and maintenance of engines will be conducted at WESVIARC on Sep. 8 to 9.
PHilMech and private agricultural engineering companies will also exhibit and showcase the latest farming and irrigation machineries and equipment in ICC.
Farmers, fisherfolks, LGUs and other agri stakeholders will participate in the Expo.
Director Recoter said that the DA welcomes walk-in participants to the event.
“We can accommodate a maximum of 500 walk-in participants everyday free of charge. For those who are interested, you may coordinate with your respective municipal agriculturists or contact the Information Office at 337-9092,” said Recoter. [By Sheila Herradura Toreno/DA6Information]
