PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 14 October) — Forty-nine farmers organizations and one barangay in Agusan del Sur on Thursday received portable rice mills from Rep. Adolph Edward Plaza of the province’s 1st District.

Johnny Casugudan, a village councilman in the mountainous far-flung village of Guibonon in Esperanza town, was ecstatic upon receiving the mechanized mill on behalf of his barangay.

Casugudan said that now they have a milling machine they can produce a better quality of the staple.

He said the farmers in their place would have to hire a habal-habal (motorbike with a contraption to carry more passengers) for P2,500 to bring their palay and corn to the town center and another P2,500 to bring the milled rice and corn back.

Their village is about 60 kilometers from the town center and the only means of transportation is the habal-habal.

The cost of bringing their produce to the rice mills at the poblacion has forced the residents to just rely on using the vintage mortar and pestle for rice and stone grinder for corn.

“We can already eat quality milled rice and corn no longer mixed with grated husks,” Casugudan told Gov. Santiago Cane Jr. and other provincial officials during the turnover of the portable rice mills at the provincial capitol on Thursday.

Plaza bought the mills in Davao City at a cost of P60,000 each or a total of P3 million from his personal pocket after learning that many farmers in remote areas have no such facilities and have to go to the town centers to have their grains milled.

Since there is no farmers group in Guibonon, the Provincial Agriculture Office chose the barangay local government unit as the recipient of the mill.

Casugudan said the farmers in their village grow upland rice annually and corn in the last six months of the year. If the harvest turns out bad, they rely on root crops to survive.

Earlier in the morning, the recipients were briefed and given a hands-on demonstration on the proper operation and maintenance of the mills which are powered by either fuel or electricity.

The beneficiaries chose the kind of mills they preferred depending on the available source of power in their barangays.

Queries on the care, repair, and maintenance of the mills were addressed and were emphasized during the briefing and demonstration.

Cane urged the recipients to take good care of the mills by frequently doing preventive maintenance.

He told them that policies and systems will be agreed upon between the farmers groups and the provincial government to ensure the sustainability of the program.

These include the weekly milling schedule, a minimal payment of P2 per kilo of palay, income utilization for operation and maintenance including fuel costs and electricity bill, and the duties and responsibilities of the recipients.

Vice Gov. Samuel Tortor suggested to Provincial Agricultural Officer Armando Valiente to write the agreement in the vernacular for everybody to clearly understand it.

Valiente said the recovery rate for palay during the milling process is 65 percent. (Chris V. Panganiban/MindaNews)

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