Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol is seeking to create what he calls “equipment model areas” as part of his buildup of a mechanization program of the Department of Agriculture that is targeted to reach from 70 to 80 percent within five years.
The model areas, Pinol explained, would enable the Department to validate the quality of agricultural equipment to be procured from a specific country.
Argentina is already building a model area for grains in Region 12, Pinol said, while Japan, South Korea and the Czech Republic “have also expressed their interest in building their own model areas.”
He said he would invite more countries to showcase their agricultural equipment such as tractors, grain dryers, or threshers.
“We want to give the farmers options and the power to choose,” Pinol said.
During a courtesy meeting with Italian Ambassador Massimo Roscigno on March 6, 2017, Piñol proposed that a facility catering to Italian equipment be built in Central Luzon. The Agriculture chief stressed to the ambassador that he would like to take a look at Italy’s agricultural machinery program.
Piñol stressed that the Department is aiming to achieve food sufficiency before the end of the Duterte administration’s term. “We can only achieve this if we are to increase the mechanization program to 70 to 80 percent within five years,” he said.
Piñol also said that he is considering seeking an exemption from the procurement process for this equipment buildup to enable the government to procure the best quality equipment.
By law, the lowest bidder is awarded the project regardless of the quality of their product.
“It doesn’t follow that the lowest bidder always provides the better quality,” Pinol said. “It always has to be the end-user preference.”
“This will help the department from gauging the performance of the equipment,” he noted.
In 2015, the DA through the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) headed by then Deputy Director Raul Paz, visited Italy to test the performance of the country’s mobile grain dryers and other production and post-harvest equipment.
The grain dryer’s performance got positive reviews from PhilMech, which suggested that demo unit be installed in the Philippines so the DA could asses its performance under local conditions. .(Kristel Merle/AFID)
