President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. welcomed the ceremonial signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperative Partnership for Agricultural Machinery between the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Korea Agricultural Machinery Industry Cooperative (KAMICO) on Tuesday, hoping it would lead to much improved agricultural productivity and food security in the country.
Speaking during the signing ceremony in Malacañang, the President highlighted the importance of mechanization to agricultural production, noting it has been the thrust of his government to boost food production particularly rice, the country’s major staple.
“We all recognized very clearly the importance of mechanization for our country because we are trying to move the production, we are trying to make sure that at least the local supply for rice is sufficient and, of course, hopefully, also the other crops,” Marcos said.
“The key to all of this is mechanization and all of the things that we’re trying to do. We have some programs to mechanize. We have the RCEF program, in which is the collections from the tariffs on rice importations are then applied also to mechanize,” he added.
Establishing local machinery production is the first step towards agricultural development, Marcos said, expecting it to result in better yield and lower production cost to make Filipino farmers more competitive.
Among the salient features of the MOU include the establishment in the country of a local agricultural machinery manufacturing cluster including assembly production line, research and development of agricultural machinery technology, workforce training on agricultural machinery technology, and a grant of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to further explore potential projects.
A KAMICO official said that an initial investment of US$30 million would be made in phase 1 of the project and triple that amount in the second phase.
The project is expected to result in food production self-sufficiency; the Philippines becoming a food-exporting country; increased employment and farmers’ income; establishment of infrastructure on agricultural mechanization and industrialization; and, technology transfer and production of specialized machinery.
The DA has been collaborating with KAMICO for some time now. Among the completed projects are adaptability testing of a self-propelled Mechanical Elevating Work Platform for mango production operations, and technology performance verification and adaptation of a mechanized onion production system.
Ongoing projects, on the other hand, include pilot adoption and pre-commercialization of the Philippine Center for Post-harvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) – KAMICO developed corn mill; technology advice and solutions from South Korea; Agricultural Mechanization Design and Prototyping Center project.
Established in 1962 and recognized by the Korean government, KAMICO has more than 650 members and a major player in the mechanization of Korea’s agriculture sector.
KAMICO actively works in the global agricultural machinery industry by providing aid to developing countries, dispatching investment research groups to emerging markets overseas, and conducting training for international customers. (PND)
