MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) revealed this week that it will continue to support organic rice farming efforts in Bicol and the Cordillera where the practice sees a bright future.

PhilMech Executive Director Ricardo L. Cachuela said the bureau already succeeded in making rice farmers in Bicol and the Cordillera benefit from facilities and technologies introduced by the bureau.

Efforts to support organic rice farming have been in place since his agency was still the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE), Cachuela stressed.

PhilMech superseded BPRE on November 2009 with an added mandate to develop and promote agriculture mechanization in the Philippines.

“With consumers becoming more health conscious, PhilMech has been developing systems to support organic rice farming efforts. Two of our successful projects are the organic rice farming of the Pecuaria Development Cooperative, Inc. (PDCI) and the Cordillera Heirloom Rice Project,” Cachuela said.

PDCI’s story also proves that agrarian reform communities (ARCs) can greatly benefit from postharvest technologies.

It was in 1988 that 817.33 hectares of land known as Pecuaria in Lanipaga, Bula in Camarines Sur were placed under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). PDCI was registered with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) on September 30, 1991.

About 130 hectares of PDCI land are planted to organic rice and whole year supply is assured because of the utilization of a flatbed dryer which the PhilMech (then the BPRE) provided to the cooperative in 2008.

The dryer reduced postharvest losses from 20 percent to less than 5 percent and made sure that the cooperative could store enough inventory even during months when most rice farmers are not planting.

“Even during the rainy season, we have available products. We are now on-time in our deliveries,” said PDCI general manager Miller Bicaldo.

In the Cordillera, PhilMech assisted organic rice farmers under the Revitalized Indigenous Cordilleran Enterprise Inc. (RICE) in the postharvest aspect of organic rice planted in over 10 hectares of terraces in Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province.

Aside from teaching organic rice farmers in how to properly handle and process grains after harvesting, PhilMech also introduced the Open Storage Technology (OST), which kept the milled grains in good condition when stored.

The OST served as temporary storage while the heirloom rice from Cordillera is on transit to the export market.

With the OST technology, grains are placed in a tightly sealed package and carbon dioxide is pumped into it to keep pests away or starved of oxygen.

Through PhilMech’s help, rice farmers under RICE are able to meet the quality standard for organic rice and export their products to the United States and Europe.