Marcos wants PH to produce own farm machineries
Published Apr 24, 2023 07:38 am
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. wants the Philippines to manufacture its own farm machineries in order to lessen the country's reliance to imports.
Marcos said the country must develop its capability to produce its own farm machineries, citing the work done at the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) in collaboration with foreign partners. PhilMech, he said, has locally manufactured machineries for planting, cultivation, harvesting, as well as those intended for post-production. These are in addition to other services such as loans and transport services to farmers and consumers. “[Mag-] manufacture tayo ng sarili natin nang sa ganun ay hindi na kailangan tayo umasa sa importation (Let's manufacture our own so that we don't need to rely on importation),” Marcos said said during the distribution of assistance in Nueva Ecija on Monday, April 24. He noted that the country's reliance to imports was felt during the pandemic lockdowns, stressing that with locally-manufactured equipment, the country is prepared to address food supply related problems in similar situation as the pandemic. “Ang lahat ay kailangan nating tingnan at pag-aralan para makahanda tayo. Na kung sakali ito’y mauulit ay tayo naman ay may gagawin. Mayroon tayong nakahanda at masasabi natin kahit hindi na tayo mag-import ay mayroon tayong sapat na supply na pagkain para sa ating mga mamamayan. ‘Yan po ang ating hangarin (We need to look into every thing so that we are prepared. If this happens again, we have prepared and we can say that we no longer have to import because we already have ample supply of food. That's our goal)," Marcos said. Developing the Philippine agriculture sector to boost the economy and ensure food security is the overall goal not only of the Department of Agriculture, but the entire government, he added. The President also said that the government is continuously crafting plans to ensure sufficient supply of water such as redesigning dam construction and solar power use. The government is also looking at improving research and development to increase agricultural productivity depending on the season, he said.
Marcos said the country must develop its capability to produce its own farm machineries, citing the work done at the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) in collaboration with foreign partners. PhilMech, he said, has locally manufactured machineries for planting, cultivation, harvesting, as well as those intended for post-production. These are in addition to other services such as loans and transport services to farmers and consumers. “[Mag-] manufacture tayo ng sarili natin nang sa ganun ay hindi na kailangan tayo umasa sa importation (Let's manufacture our own so that we don't need to rely on importation),” Marcos said said during the distribution of assistance in Nueva Ecija on Monday, April 24. He noted that the country's reliance to imports was felt during the pandemic lockdowns, stressing that with locally-manufactured equipment, the country is prepared to address food supply related problems in similar situation as the pandemic. “Ang lahat ay kailangan nating tingnan at pag-aralan para makahanda tayo. Na kung sakali ito’y mauulit ay tayo naman ay may gagawin. Mayroon tayong nakahanda at masasabi natin kahit hindi na tayo mag-import ay mayroon tayong sapat na supply na pagkain para sa ating mga mamamayan. ‘Yan po ang ating hangarin (We need to look into every thing so that we are prepared. If this happens again, we have prepared and we can say that we no longer have to import because we already have ample supply of food. That's our goal)," Marcos said. Developing the Philippine agriculture sector to boost the economy and ensure food security is the overall goal not only of the Department of Agriculture, but the entire government, he added. The President also said that the government is continuously crafting plans to ensure sufficient supply of water such as redesigning dam construction and solar power use. The government is also looking at improving research and development to increase agricultural productivity depending on the season, he said.