SAN JOSE, Antique – A total of 25 farmers in Barangay Maybato North in this capital town were provided with farm machineries.
The machineries are aimed at improving agricultural production and encourage better year-round farming, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
The machineries include a rice thresher, a hand tractor and four water pumps with complete accessories amounting to P450,000.
The recipients were members of Maybato North Farmers Association. Majority of the farmer-beneficiaries are small landholders and lessees who cannot afford to buy their own farm equipment.
Due to the limited number of rented units, these farmers resort to the “traditional, laborious and time-consuming” tilling and cultivating that affect the quality of farm produce.
The modernized farm machineries will lessen farm expenses by 30 percent every cropping season as farmers will no longer rent expensive farm tools and machineries, the DOLE said.
Maybato North village chief Manuel Winston Mission is thankful that DOLE chose the barangay as one of its Kabuhayan Program beneficiates.
Mission said with the modernized farm machineries, farmer-beneficiaries can now grow agricultural crops with good quality, increase farm yields and reduce the cost of production. (With DOLE Region 6/PN)
