“Why do we dry our rice along the roadsides? Simple. It’s because we are yet to have a drying facility. Imagine a graduating nursing student losing his life because our municipality did not have a proper drying and storage facility,” said Manaoag Municipal Mayor Kim Mikael Amador during the inauguration of the Manaoag Municipal Warehouse and Multi-Purpose Drying Facility at Barangay Cabanban, Manaoag, Pangasinan on September 28, 2018. He shared that he cannot forget the incident of a graduating nursing student who was the bread winner for her family meeting a fatal accident because of drying palay along the shoulders of the national highway.

The danger of drying rice and mung bean produce along the shoulders of national highways is a common experience among the farmers of Manaoag, Pangasinan.

“After harvesting our palay, we have no choice but to dry our produce along the roadsides. We know that drying our produce along the roadsides is dangerous, especially since we dry along the main roads. Aside from that, it is also costly because we need to hire around ten (10) people for 100 cavans to rake the palay every now and to ensure even drying,” Ms. Cheryl Obosa who is a farmer in Manaoag, Pangasinan shared to InfoACE.

“Before the PRDP MPDP, our practice is really to dry our rice produce along the shoulders of the national highway. After drying, we sell it immediately to the market even if the prices are low. With the PRDP warehouse, however, we can now opt to store our rice produce and wait for better market prices,” said Jeremy Esteves who is also a farmer from Manaoag, Pangasinan.

Aiming to provide a proper drying facility and storage facility for farmers, the Municipality of Manaoag proposed for the Construction of Municipal Warehouse and Multi-Purpose Drying Pavement in 2016 to support its farmers. The Manaoag Municipal Warehouse has an area of 477.5 square meters and can fit a total of 16,000 kilos of rice. Meanwhile, the drying pavement has an area of 600 square meters and can dry up to 170 bags of palay per batch. The Construction of Municipal Warehouse and Multi-Purpose Drying Pavement has a total project cost of Php10,419,627.86. The Municipality of Manaoag will designate a manager, operator, and security guard to maintain the infrastructure facility and sustain its operations.

“A lot of mayors are reluctant to partner with PRDP. They complained that it is difficult to comply with a lot of requirements and that they do not have available funds for the LGU ten percent (10%) counterpart. That’s why the Municipality of Manaoag is lucky to have Mayor Kim.” Regional Technical Director for Operations and Procurement Unit Head Erlinda F. Manipon praised.

She commended the hard work, dedication, and initiative of the Municipality of Manaoag, Pangasinan under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP). The Municipality of Manaoag, Pangasinan is the first municipality who initiated to propose under the PRDP in Ilocos Region.

Aside from the municipal warehouse and MPDP, the Municipality of Manaoag is also implementing the Construction of Oraan Bridge and Approaches with a total project cost of Php20,575,072.76. The bridge subproject is already 93.5 % accomplished based on the Management Information System (MIS) as of September 30, 2018.

One farmer organization from Manaoag, Pangasinan has also accessed the Small Livelihood Project (SLP) of the Enterprise Component of the PRDP. The Oraan East Multi-Purpose Cooperative of the Municipality of Manaoag received a four-wheel tractor with complete accessories for its Farm Mechanization Service Facility Enterprise on November 15, 2017.

“I am very happy that now we have our own drying and storage facility,” said Ms. Obosa. “We are hoping that the drying and storage fee to be collected by our Municipality would be less compared to the amount we spend for labor in drying along the roadsides,” added Mr. Esteves.

Manaoag Mayor Amador said that Manaoag would like to contain the commerce of agriculture within its municipality. They keep on soliciting projects and programs from national government agencies to bring to farmers and provide complete set of services.

“We will gradually address the problems and issues of our farmers. In the Municipality of Manaoag, we support each other. Everyone, including our farmers, is part of the progress and development of our Municipality. Welcome to our newest post-harvest facilities. Congratulations to all of us!” Mayor Amador said.

The Municipality of Manaoag is again aiming to access the Additional Financing of the PRDP to fund the construction of a cold storage facility. The cold storage will be built adjacent to the Municipal Warehouse. ###Vida V. Cacal and Dessa U. Estrada, RPCO 1 InfoACE

The Inauguration of the Manaoag Municipal Warehouse and Multi-Purpose Drying Pavement commences with a blessing ceremony officiated by Rev. Fr. Hilario Sikat Jr.