EQUIPMENT SUPPORT. Members of the Rural Improvement Club in Barangay San Mateo, Butuan City, inspect the newly delivered cassava chipper they received from the Department of Agriculture 13 (Caraga region) last week. Eight associations of cassava farmers in Butuan City and Las Nieves in Agusan del Norte have received PHP2 million worth of assorted post-harvest equipment from DA-13. (Photo courtesy of DA-13 Information Office)
BUTUAN CITY – Two cassava farmers' associations in Agusan del Norte recently received farm equipment worth PHP2 million from the Department of Agriculture (DA) 13 (Caraga region) to increase farm productivity and their members’ income.
In a statement on Tuesday, DA-13 said two groups of cassava farmers from Butuan City and six in the town of Las Nieves, Agusan del Sur received the farm equipment in a series of deliveries conducted last week.
“(The) DA is focusing its support to the farmers to stand amidst the pandemic we’ve experience nowadays,” Regional Executive Director Abel James Monteagudo said.
Monteagudo also lauded the efforts of DA-13 personnel who went on with the delivery of the equipment despite the risks posed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in Caraga.
He added that most associations of cassava farmers in Butuan City and Las Nieves that are also into corn farming have received post-harvest equipment, which included four units of cassava chippers and four units of cassava granulators.
Each of the organizations also received vacuum pack sealers, cassava graters, cassava pulverizers, cassava diggers, and a corn mill.
Among the groups that received cassava chippers, granulators, pulverizers, and diggers were the Lingayao Kahayagan Cassava Farmers Association (LKCFA) in Barangay Lingayao, Las Nieves.
LKCFA president Roberto Calapre thanked the DA-13 for the equipment they received.
“I am looking forward that in the coming harvest, this cassava digger will help us make harvesting easier. We are optimistic something good will happen in our cassava production with the support of the DA,” Calapre was quoted as saying.
Monteagudo said DA-13 is targeting about 2,766 hectares for cassava production in the region this year, as well as the production of 24,322 metric tons (MT).
He added that aside from equipment, DA-13 is also extending technical support and farm inputs to the cassava farmers in the area. (PNA)
