The Municipal Agriculture Office of Manapla inaugurated recently its P900,000 flatbed dryer and received 46 bags of certified palay seeds, and 180 laminated sacks from the Department of Agriculture.

Municipal agriculturist Alejandro Malijoc, said yesterday that the flatbed dryer designed by the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization has the capacity to dry palay up to 5 tons per loading.

He said the mechanical dryer will be a big help to the farmers and to the members of the Manapla Partnership in Agricultural and Rural Transformation cooperative that manages its operation.

The technology is part of the rice sufficiency level of the province and to help farmers in their post harvest facilities, Malijoc added.

Certified palay seeds are given to farmers and accredited people's organizations to improve their production while the laminated sacks will be used in storing the palay, he added.

Gov. Alfredo Marañon, Jr. was represented by his Executive Assistant Manuel Escalante during the inauguration. Also present were Manapla Mayor Lourdes Escalante and Sagay Mayor Rafael Leo Cueva, and leaders of peoples' organizations and farmer beneficiaries, Malijoc also said.

He reminded farmers to take care of the technology provided by PhilMech, through DA so that they can maximize and earn additional income from it.

He added that the cooperative is accepting palay drying services from other farmers and payments are used for the maintenance of the machine.*LTG

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