The Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) awarded 4-wheel drive tractors to four farmer organizations who proposed for Farm Mechanization Service Facility under the Small Livelihood Project (SLP) of I-REAP Component. The awarding ceremony was held at the Bulacan Sports Complex, Malolos, Bulacan on August 14, 2017.

The SLP is one of the projects of PRDP which aims to help farmers and recover farming losses from Typhoon Lando which hit Luzon in the third week of October 2015.

Recipients of the livelihood project were farmers in Bulacan who had standing crops during the typhoon.

The farmer organizations who received a four-wheel tractor were: Gugo Multipurpose Cooperative, Inc. in Barangay Gugo, Calumpit, Bulacan; Sacred Heart Credit and Development Cooperative in Cruz na Daan San Rafael, Bulacan;Plaridel  Vegetable   Growers   Multipurpose  Cooperative in Barangay    San  Jose,   Plaridel,   Bulacan; and Balitakang Pamayanan ng Inaon Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Barangay Inaon, Pulilan, Bulacan.

During an interview with Erwin M. Veneracion, Manager of Sacred Heart Credit and Development Cooperative, he said that the use of 4WD tractor will be a great help to their members because they can now avail service of tractor in lower costs.

According to Julian Dela Cruz, Chairperson of Plaridel Vegetable   Growers   Multipurpose  Cooperative the beneficiaries are overwhelmed to receive the 4WD tractor.

“We are thankful to the Local Government of Bulacan, DA and especially to PRDP in giving us these machineries that we can use in our farms and we are blessed because we realize that the government is still helping us to recover during our loses in the typhoon Lando,” he said.

“In return to the government we will take good care of the machines that we received and use it properly in order to lengthen the service that they can give our farmers,” he added.

Bulacan Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado, who graced the awarding encouraged the farmers to shift from manual farming and engage in farm mechanization in order to keep up with other countries in rice production.

“Through the help of Department of Agriculture and the Local Government Unit of Bulacan, we are trying our best to modernize the farming system in our province in order to reduce the labor costs on rice production,” he said.

He also added that our country should be ready in the Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) Integration where the products of our neighboring countries can freely go in our country without taxes and vice versa.

The Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) is a six-year national project under the Department of Agriculture which aims to establish a modern, inclusive, value chain-oriented and climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector. (Dianne M. Lapuz, RPCO3-InfoACE)

Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado (fourth form left) leads the awarding of certificates to the recipients of PRDP Small Livelihood Project under I-REAP Component together with William Valdez, I-REAP Component Head (third from right), Gil David, RPCO3 Alternate Focal Person (second from right) and Gloria Carillo Provincial Agriculturist of Bulacan (first from right).